A number of individuals have achieved millionaire status by investing in the memecoin introduced by US President-elect Donald Trump.
If you’ve been out of the loop with recent cryptocurrency developments, you might not know that Trump has launched his $Trump memecoin as he gears up for his inauguration tomorrow, January 20.
The soon-to-be 47th President of the United States used his official Truth Social account to tweet his followers, encouraging them to join him in ‘winning’ as part of his presidential celebration.
The official website describes: “This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the odds.”
However, the website includes a disclaimer, clarifying that the coin is “not intended to be, or the subject of” an investment opportunity, and it is “not political and has nothing to do with” any political campaigns, persons, or offices.
The disclaimer also mentions that the coin is not meant as an “expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol $TRUMP” and it is not “intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”
The memecoin is coordinated by CIC Digital LLC, a company affiliated with the Trump Organization. To the surprise of many, it rapidly surged into the billions overnight.
In a mere six hours, the coin’s price soared from mere cents to $14, and it continued to climb from there.
Shortly after its launch, the market capitalization reached nearly $5.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com, resulting in 500 traders becoming millionaires from their investments.
Currently, only about 200 million coins have been issued, but the website plans to release 800 million more over the next three years for traders to acquire.
While many investors have profited significantly, some critics accuse Trump of benefitting personally from the coin’s launch.
Crypto venture capitalist Nick Tomaino commented on social media, stating: “Trump owning 80 percent and timing launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it.”
SolanaFloor, a digital finance news site, reported on X: “A trader is up $29.8M on $TRUMP, Donald Trump’s official memecoin on Solana. He spent $1.09M to buy 5,971,750 TRUMP coins, now worth $30.8M in under 2 hours—a 2,634% gain. The trader has not sold any coins yet.”
At present, the memecoin is the second largest in the market, experiencing a 272 percent increase in investment.
Based on on-chain data, it recorded over $3 billion in trading volumes within hours of launch, achieved a $2 billion market capitalization, and generated over $70 million in paper gains for early investors, along with about $1 million for smaller traders.
This marks the first occasion where a president has allowed their likeness to be associated with a memecoin, making it a notable event in the cryptocurrency community.
A screenshot of traders reveals that over 525 individuals became $TRUMP millionaires within 24 hours of investing in the coin.