Trump’s new meme coin rose on his first day in office, according to Reuters

(Edited first paragraph to say World Liberty Financial raised $300 million in token sale, not $1 billion)

By Elizabeth Howcroft, Rae Wee and Michelle Collin

PARIS/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – As President Donald Trump descends, a crypto project linked to World Freedom Finance has raised $300 million in token sales, the company said on Monday, while the new Trump memecoin has risen in market value from $10 billion. They started their work for the second time.

The boom in Trump-related crypto ventures comes as the Biden administration promises to usher in a new “golden age” for cryptocurrencies, in contrast to the deregulation of the industry that the Biden administration has forced.

The WLF was promoted and formed by Trump, his sons, and Trump’s new Middle East special envoy, Steve Witkoff, just two months before the US election.

Trump’s new memecoin, branded $TRUMP, debuted Friday night at the inaugural Crypto Ball (NYSE: ) in Washington, D.C., in conjunction with the inauguration and festivities. The coin rose less than $10 to $74.59 on Monday before giving up some huge gains on Monday.

The new coin expands its cryptocurrency interest beyond WLF.

Melania Trump launched her own coin, $MELANIA, on Sunday. The rally boosted its market cap to more than $1 billion.

Four-fifths of the Trump coin tokens are held by CIC Digital, a Trump business affiliate, and another entity, Fight, Fight, Fight, according to the website. The coins are “an expression of support and interaction for the ideals and beliefs embodied in the $TRUMP symbol and are not an investment or security.

The WLF’s launch comes two months before the November US election, raising concerns about ethics and conflicts of interest. The launch of memecoin on Friday night also raised red flags, even among people in the cryptocurrency industry.

“It’s tempting to dismiss this as another Trump show, but the official Trump token launch opens up a Pandora’s box of (OTC:) ethical and regulatory questions,” said independent Trump analyst Justin D’Anetan. hong kong.

Cryptocurrency attorney Preston Byrne published a blog post in which he predicted an estimated 90% of civil lawsuits against the coin within the next 14 days.

“Someone loses money, some lawyer comes up with a theory and files it,” Byrne said. “The launch of memecoin is a huge, unmitigated mistake from a political point of view.”

Byrne declined to comment further.

The Trump Organization says when the president enters the White House this month, he will hand over management of the multibillion-dollar real estate, hotel, golf, media and licensing portfolio to his children.

At 2:45 pm EST, the Trump coin was trading at $42.20, giving it a market capitalization of nearly $8.5 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

According to CoinMarketCap data, the twenty-four-hour trading volume was about $40 billion.

WLF sold nearly 22 billion tokens on Monday, according to the company’s website.

This includes a total investment of $75 million from Tron founder Justin Sun, who was indicted for crypto-related fraud and securities violations during the Biden administration.

A broad rally in cryptocurrency prices was helped by excitement over meme coins as traders and investors grew more hopeful that Trump would keep his promise to become the “crypto president” by loosening regulations and promoting ownership of digital assets.

Several key figures in the Trump administration have ties to the crypto industry.

It hit $104,031.00 on launch day and is up about 7% so far this month.

The Trump and Melania cryptocurrencies were created on a little-known blockchain, which CoinMarketCap ranks as the third largest blockchain network.

The price of the Solana coin also increased over the weekend.

“The cryptocurrency market gained more popularity in recent hours before the launch of TRUMP and Melania’s cryptocurrencies,” said Grzegorz Droz, market analyst at Kontoxia Ltd. in a statement.

Estimated assets

Peter Schiff, Chief Economist and Global Strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, pointed to the $TRUMP price jump and called it the new digital gold on social media.

Trump’s net worth is estimated at $6.7 billion by Forbes. That doesn’t include the value of the $Trump coin, at least on paper, or from the WLF.

The prospect of looser rules around crypto policy has been cheered by the industry, sparking a rally in bitcoin following Trump’s election win in November.

The sharp rise in the new coin’s value has raised concerns among some analysts.

“Meme cryptocurrencies like these are prone to large fluctuations and we generally consider them speculative assets,” said Drozdz at Kontoxia.

Trump’s coin represents the integration of the decentralized financial world into the political arena, but it “blurs the line between governance, profit and influence,” D’Anettan said.

“Do public representatives, especially those with such political power, have to make such a swing in the speculative markets? This is a question that regulators cannot ignore,” he said.

Both Trump’s and Melania Trump’s coin websites avoid referring to them as cryptocurrencies, instead using the phrase “funnel cryptoassets” in their inquiries.

On Sunday, Donald Trump Jr. said on X that the $Trump coin is “the hottest digital meme on Earth” and that WLF will be “the future of finance.”

We’re just getting started.

(This story was corrected to say World Liberty Financial raised $300 million in token sale, not $1 billion in paragraph 1)