First Michael Saylor Hoarded Bitcoin. Then, an Army of Copycats Mimicked the Play

First, Michael Saylor hoarded Bitcoin. Then, an army of copycats mimicked the play and stocked up on the top cryptocurrency.

A small Houston-based shipping technology firm has plowed a large sum of money into an unconventional asset: US President Donald Trump’s official memecoin.

Freight Technologies on Wednesday announced it had purchased $2 million of the Trump memecoin, adding to a previous investment of $5.2 million in the artificial-intelligence-related FET tokens from Fetch.ai. The firm also said it had no plans to attend a gala dinner being hosted by the former president.

The firm’s actions come as an army of copycats are mimicking the play of Michael Saylor, the executive chair of Strategy, and loading up their balance sheets with Bitcoin.

At last count, more than 130 companies said they were buying Bitcoin in an attempt to replicate the boffo returns Saylor has generated for Strategy’s stockholders. The software company’s shares have skyrocketed 221% in the last 12 months.

It’s clear to see why Freight Technologies may be looking to emulate Strategy—its shares are trading 99% below its 2017 high.

For all its volatility, Bitcoin has proven its resilience over the last 16 years, and Ethereum and Solana have also won the confidence of investors as they build out DeFi. These digital assets all have a well-defined function.

The Trump memecoin’s function? Well, that’s harder to pinpoint. Other than making fast money for their creators, memecoins aren’t designed to be useful.

GetTrumpMemes.com, the company behind the Trump memecoin, said on its website that the offering is “an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol $TRUMP.”

Representatives of GetTrumpMemes.com didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Freight Technologies’ spokesperson said it purchased $1 million worth of $TRUMP to have the option to consider an invitation to attend the Trump gala, if it received one.

The firm didn’t use shareholder funds to invest in the president’s memecoin, but instead used convertible notes to fund the purchase.

So far, Freight Technologies has scooped up $2 million worth of $TRUMP in two installments, the second tranche being announced this week. By comparison, the top holder has bought more than $19 million worth of the token in May 14’s prices.

The firm also bought $5.2 million of the artificial-intelligence-related FET tokens from Fetch.ai.

Freight Technologies’ spokesperson said it may buy other cryptocurrencies in the future.

The Trump memecoin kicked off a firestorm after its launch on January 17. Within hours, market watchers began to raise concerns over the coin’s distribution. Two ventures with close ties to the Trump family—CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight—own 80% of the president’s memecoin, according to the memecoin’s website.

In April, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff branded the May 22 dinner as “pay-to-play corruption.” Jon Ossoff, Senator from Georgia, referred to the dinner as an “impeachable offense.”

And mounting concerns over how Trump is blurring the line between policymaking and his family’s crypto interests helped torpedo a Senate vote on a key stablecoin bill last week.

“President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” Anna Kelly, the deputy press secretary, told DL News in May.