US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, appropriately called $TRUMP.
Trump announced the launch on X on Saturday and encouraged his supporters to embrace the initiative.
Nine hours after the launch, the meme coin has reached a market capitalisation of $4 billion, according to Coingecko, a cryptocurrency aggregator.
Meme coins have no economic or transactional value, and are often seen as a means of speculative trading.
As of 4:40am, an hour after Trump announced the launch, the meme coin was trading at $4.29, however, the asset has increased in value by 414.7 percent, as it currently trades at $20.59.
“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!” Trump wrote.
The launch of $Trump is strategically timed as it comes just days before his inauguration as the 47th president of the US on January 20.
According to a statement on the $Trump website, the meme coin was described as more than just a digital asset but a “piece of history”.
The statement said the meme coin celebrates Trump’s resilience during his campaign last year after surviving an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
“There are 200 million $TRUMP available on day one and will grow to a total of 1 billion $TRUMP over three years. Each group’s allocation are released on their own schedule over 3 years,” the statement reads.
The website describes the coin as a tribute to a leader who “never backs down, no matter the odds” and invites supporters to invest in $Trump.
At the current rate, the coins not yet on the market would be worth about $24 billion.
Initially opposed to cryptocurrency, Trump made a sharp about-face during his 2024 presidential campaign, becoming a champion of the concept and promising to develop the sector, notably by loosening regulations.
Before this new announcement, businessmen linked to Trump had in October put online a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial.
Meanwhile, Solana’s SOL token rocketed after a memecoin linked to President-elect Donald Trump launched on the popular blockchain network.
The price of SOL rose more than 15% to $254.71 on Saturday, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier, it surged nearly 23%. Ether, one of its main competitors, fell 7%.
Solana is the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, excluding stablecoins. It was created in 2020 as a faster and cheaper alternative to Ethereum and now hosts some of the most popular memecoins like dogwifhat and Pudgy Penguins, as well as decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming projects.
The token has become so popular asset managers are seeking to issue exchange traded funds tracking its price. The decision deadline for potential ETFs from Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares and Canary is approaching Jan. 25.
ProShares on Friday evening also filed for four different ETFs based on SOL. If approved this year, SOL ETFs may only attract a fraction of the assets that flowed into bitcoin ETFs in their first year of trading, according to JPMorgan.
SOL gained 85% in 2024. It’s now about 4% off its all-time high of $264.56, from Nov. 22.
