Donald-Trump

From Bibles to Blockchain: Trump’s Meme Coin Sends Markets Wild

 

President-elect Donald Trump has introduced a new cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, just days before his inauguration. The coin, launched on the Solana blockchain, quickly surged in value, reaching a market capitalisation of approximately $9.2 billion. Trump announced the coin on his social media platforms, describing it as a celebration of "WINNING!"
 
“It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community,” Trump said in a social post on January 17 promoting the new tokens. 

 

Market Dynamics and Fluctuations

 

Originally set at $10 per token, $TRUMP spiked to about $70 and stabilized at $46.06. This kind of rapid up and down shows the high risk of meme coin, which contains mostly no real value and has high possibilities of pump and dump kinds of situation. The introduction of a similar coin, $MELANIA, by Melania Trump was also an influential factor in the market fluctuations, showing that such assets are quite unpredictable. 

 

Ethical Issues And Organizational Ownership

 

The launch of $TRUMP has attracted ethical concerns due to the ownership issue of the social platform. CIC Digital LLC, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, – companies directly related to the Trump Organization – directly own 80% of tokens. Some critics said it would be even more likely to provoke potential conflicts of interest now that Trump is president. A crypto venture capitalist, Nick Tomaino, criticized the timing and ownership as ‘predatory’, explaining that many investors could be affected. 

 

Marketing Concerns & Institutional Frameworks

 

Trump’s venture into cryptocurrency falls well with his crypto-friendly policy position, as the previous administration was relatively conservative about it. He is committed to mainstreaming the adoption of cryptocurrencies and has already brought on board allies in the crypto sector into his administration. However, significant insider ownership in $TRUMP can be perceived as raising concerns about other related opportunities of influence, including, potentially, foreign. Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director, highlighted the ease with which foreign actors could financially engage with the US president through such ventures. 

 

Conclusion

 

The introduction of $TRUMP is an excellent example of a political event combined with the increasing popularity of new financial technologies. On one hand, it signifies the trend towards recognising and accepting distributed ledgers and blockchain at the level of top officials of the state. On the other hand, it raises fundamental issues relating to ethics, stability, and regulation of this novel phenomenon.