Incoming U.S. President Donald Trump's new meme coin continued to soar, reaching nearly $12 billion in market cap as of 8 a.m. GMT on Monday after an unprecedented boom over the weekend, only days before the Republican returns to the White House.
Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin, which is designed to capitalize on the popularity of a certain personality, movement or viral internet trend on Saturday in a post on his Truth Social platform and X.
Meme coins have no economic or transactional value and are often seen as a means of speculative trading. Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency whose mascot is a super-cute dog that muses things like “much wow,” is perhaps the most well-known. Meme coins can be used by scammers looking to make a quick fortune at the expense of unwary investors.
Neither Trump nor the company managing the token's launch, Fight Fight Fight LLC, offered details about how much he made from the initial batch of meme coins released.
The coin's official site said 200 million meme coins were issued, and Fight Fight Fight said an additional 800 million would be issued over the next three years.
On Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (12:30 a.m. GMT Monday), the meme coin was worth around $48, bringing the market capitalization for $TRUMP to approximately $9.6 billion.
As of 8 a.m., the coin value climbed to $59.08, and it ranked 18th, considering its market cap, which had a value of $11.67 billion on coinmarketcap.com.
Trump launched the digital token branded with an image from his attempted assassination in July, expanding his cryptocurrency interests that already include World Liberty Financial.
Even cryptocurrency community participants were surprised by the launch of Trump's meme coin. The coins started selling for $10 each before soaring to as high as about $70 as of Sunday morning.
"While it's tempting to dismiss this as just another Trump spectacle, the launch of the official Trump token opens up a Pandora's box of ethical and regulatory questions," said Justin D'Anethan, an independent crypto analyst based in Hong Kong.
While the coin represented a blending of the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) into the political arena, it also "blurs the lines between governance, profit and influence," D'Anethan said.
"Should public figures, especially those with such political clout, wield this kind of sway in speculative markets? That's a question regulators are unlikely to ignore," he said.
Peter Schiff, chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, pointed to the jump in $TRUMP's value and called it the new digital gold on messaging platform X.
At the same time, on Sunday, incoming first lady Melania Trump issued her own cryptocurrency, called $MELANIA.
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.
Trump has promised to be a "crypto president" and is expected to issue executive orders to reduce crypto regulatory roadblocks and promote widespread adoption of digital assets.
He will assume the presidency at noon ET (5 p.m. GMT) on Monday.
The prospect of looser regulations around crypto policy has been met with fanfare by the industry and has turbocharged a rally in Bitcoin following Trump's election victory in November.
The world's largest cryptocurrency last traded up 2.85% at $107,690, fetching new records hours before Trump's inauguration.
