Donald Trump and Melania Trump Become Memecoin Billionaires

The feat did not involve a stellar dogecoin trade; rather, the soon-to-be 47th president simply launched his own token.

Hours before taking office as only the second US president to serve nonconsecutive terms, Donald Trump did something even harder: He became a memecoin billionaire.

The feat did not involve a stellar dogecoin trade; rather, the soon-to-be 47th president simply launched his own token.

not a joke

On Friday night, Trump hosted the Crypto Ball (in absentia) for blockchain bigwigs. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and the Winklevoss twins were among the attendees. While guests snacked on lobster rolls and McDonald’s burgers, Trump posted an announcement on Truth Social: “My New Official Trump Meme is HERE!”

The memecoin, Trump Memes, uses the symbol $Trump and reached a market cap of $5.5 billion by Saturday afternoon.

On Sunday morning, $Trump was worth 10x that. Axios’s managing editor for business, Ben Berkowitz, wrote that it spoke “to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have more than $50 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 48 hours previously.”

A disclaimer on the coin’s website says Trump Memes are not “an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type,” just “an expression of support” for the incoming president. Nonetheless, critics and some crypto industry members expressed dismay.

Crypto VC Nick Tomaino said that timing the release hours before the inauguration “is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it.” Adav Noti, executive director of the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, said, “It is literally cashing in on the presidency.” The coin’s website also says the companies behind it will benefit from “trading revenue derived from trading activities.”

There’s more: On Sunday night, Melania Trump launched a memecoin of her own, which quickly garnered a market cap of $5 billion. Trump Memes fell over 35% on the news. Both projects are powered by the Solana blockchain.

If you’re new to memecoins, check out this explainer.