On January 17th, 2025, Donald Trump took to Truth Social to announce the launch of his memecoin, $TRUMP. Launched on the Solana blockchain, this token saw tremendous growth right from the beginning and touched a market capitalization of $17.5 billion within hours of its launch. The rise has elicited questions about the legitimacy of the project and its potential implications for the broader cryptocurrency space.
Rapid Growth and Trading Activity
Following the launch, $TRUMP has surged over 4,200% in a couple of hours and trades at around $64.06 at the time of writing. One trader reportedly made a profit of $20 million within an hour after investing about $1.1 million.
The token has roughly 200 million tokens in circulating supply and trading volumes topping over $1 billion, according to data from CoinGecko.
Investors turned tiny initial investments into huge profits practically overnight. One example is a user who, in just 21 minutes, turned a $883 investment into a whopping $310,000 in profit. That kind of fast-changing ecosystem has given a whole atmosphere where investors look out with FOMO (or fear of missing out).
Legitimacy Concerns
While the $TRUMP coin is not without its excitement, questions over its authenticity have come to light. Observers pointed out that recent social media account hacks make official announcements around the token less credible. Analysts have reacted with concern to the fact that, although carrying the Trump name, ambiguity regarding real verification is potentially a red flag.
Blockchain engineer Cygaar pointed out that the coin’s website bears a technical resemblance to Trump’s past NFT efforts, further fueling speculation about the origins of the coin. “Either this is the greatest cyber heist of all time, or this is legit,” he said.
Slorg from Jupiter’s Core Working Group said, answering such concerns, that the $TRUMP token is listed on Jupiter Exchange to quell potential investors as speculation continues.
Market Reaction
The launch of $TRUMP shook the cryptocurrency market. Immediately after the announcement, Solana (SOL) jumped 10% as other cryptos fell while investors moved their funds to the new meme coin. All this has brought debate on whether this rapid growth would be sustained and what its effects would be on more established cryptocurrencies.
The total supply of $TRUMP Tokens is 1 billion; however, at the time of listing, only 200 million are tradable to the public. The rest of the tokens (80% of them) are vested by the creators and CIC Digital after 3 to 12 months and unlock daily over 24 months.
The coin itself comes from the saying “Fight, Fight, Fight,” which was popularized following a huge event surrounding Trump during a campaign rally in July of 2024. It symbolizes a call to action and a relation to power.
While exciting and profitable, the legitimacy of the project has been a question among investors. The financial community will surely be paying close attention to what this new meme coin means for the cryptocurrency market.
