In the next article I will present some details that made me wonder if the cryptocurrency launched by Donald J Trump, the US President is in fact a scam. I want to keep things apolitical and refer exclusively to this cryptocurrency “$Trump”.
What is $Trump? Donald J Trump’s cryptocurrency
Just three days before the inauguration of America’s new president, Donald J Trump, a cryptocurrency called “$Trump” was launched. This cryptocurrency is a meme coin.
OK, now you’re probably wondering what the difference is between a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and a meme coin.Meme coins are digital currencies inspired by memes, viral jokes or other cultural phenomena (generally satire). They use common blockchain technologies (in this case Solana), but unlike bitcoin or Ethereum, they have no serious financial or technological purpose – they’re more for fun or speculation. In short, they’re good for nothing.
Of course this was not the first meme coin created, the first meme coin was the DOGE coin, which was created for the purpose of satirizing Bitcoin, for some almost inexplicable reason, the market cap of this meme coin has exceeded $55 billion.
In the official version of those who launched this cryptocurrency, they claim the following:
In translation for those who don’t speak English: “On 7/13/2024, President Trump was on the brink of death and he rose up fighting! With fist in the air and the famous battle cry “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT”, President Trump showed the world what a TRUE LEADER is made of. His strength and courage ignited a movement, becoming the most memorable meme of the century.
Now, you can own a piece of history. This Trump meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the obstacles. Join the Trump community – we fight for what matters!”
The event referenced in the release above :
In addition to this meme coin launched by the US President, a meme coin was also launched shortly afterwards by Melania Trump‘s wife Melania Trump, which is called $Melania. The official website is https://melaniameme.com/
Donald Trump’s statements on this cryptocurrency
The US president had the following conversation with a reporter shortly after taking office:
Reporter: Do you intend to continue to sell a product that only benefits you while you are president?Donald J Trump: I don’t know if it benefits me, I don’t know what’s going on with this cryptocurrency. I don’t know much about it other than I launched it. I heard it’s a success, I haven’t checked, what’s going on with this cryptocurrency now ?Reporter: You made a lot of money sir
Donald J Trump: How much money?Reporter: Several billion dollars just in the last few days
Donald J Trump: A few billion dollars? That’s chump change to these people.
What are the news publications saying about the meme coin released by Donald Trump?
In an article published by Reuters, it is reported that about $100 million was generated from transfer fees alone in less than two weeks.
Three cryptocurrency blockchain data analytics firms, including Merkle Science and Chainalysis, examined the blockchain – a public ledger that shows all $Trump transactions – for Reuters. They estimated that by Jan. 30, 2025, the $Trump token had generated between $86 million and $100 million in transaction fees. Recall that the meme coin was launched on January 17, 2025.
In another article published by ” The New York Times” which has the headline “Early investors made quick profits while other investors suffered losses”. This article shows how early investors in this cryptocurrency made huge profits in a very short time while investors who joined the meme coin later lost substantial amounts of money. Similar to a ponzi/pyramid scheme.
More than 810,000 investors have been hurt by this coin meme launched by the President of the United States, instead there are a few “lucky” investors who from the very beginning of the launch made the right decisions to buy at the right time and especially to sell before the price crashed.
The above information refers to the peak reached by the cryptocurrency in the first few days of its launch approximately – 75 USD, following which in a very short time, few investors will make a profit by selling very large amounts of the cryptocurrency. The price is currently around 20 USD.
The US President promoted this coin meme on his personal X account
This promotional campaign has been joined by his close campaigner, billionaire Elon Musk, who currently heads the department created by the American president to cut US government costs.
“Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.”
This is actually part of how the whole memecoin industry works. Legal, but largely unregulated. The trading is based on large purchases made early by experienced traders, who artificially drive up the price, only to then sell their assets. Less experienced investors buy after them, but often end up losing money. This technique is called “pump and dump” which is a fraud, you can read more about what this technique is on the Wikipedia article dedicated to the subject with a simple click.
At the moment the capitalization on this meme coin has reached about 3.4 billion dollars (source Coingecko)
What are the reasons that made me believe that this meme coin is actually a scam
Apart from the arguments presented above by Reuters and The New York Times, which clearly show a pump and dump action that benefited very few who bought large quantities of this meme coin and then after the general public started buying they sold. I would like to add a couple more reasons:
Donald Trump before this meme coin was released, he had a whole plea about how cryptocurrencies are very good. Thus he created a hysteria among cryptocurrency investors that the moment he will be sworn in as president, the cryptocurrency world will have a different face. Both he and his family members, here I am referring to his son Barron Trump have propagated in the public space support for the cryptocurrency industry ( I call these events, the preparatory phase where more and more people started to believe that Donald J Trump will lead a digital revolution)
The cryptocurrency launch was strategically chosen just 3 days before his inauguration to provide a long enough period for the cryptocurrency to accumulate sufficient buying power.
Donald Trump has not made any statement to support the fact that in reality this cryptocurrency has no real value, that it cannot be used but only subtle remarks which, on the contrary, have further encouraged the uneducated and highly speculative buyers. The soon to be inaugurated President of the United States launches a cryptocurrency, it’s bound to create hype, isn’t it? Following the rise in the price, he declared that the money invested in this cryptocurrency is “small change”.
At the same time, the official cryptocurrency website is full of messages such as:
This message translates: “Trump memes are designed to function as an expression of support for and commitment to the ideals and beliefs embodied by the “$TRUMP” symbol and its associated art and are not intended to represent or be the subject of any investment opportunity, investment contract or type of security. GetTrumpMemes.com is not a political website and has no affiliation with any political campaign, political office or government agency.
See Terms and Conditions here, see Card Allotment here.”He seems to have taken all the safeguards in place even before he obsessively posted this message, making sure that if anyone ends up losing large sums of money, he can quietly say he has done his duty and warned everyone that it’s nothing more than a work of art.Another reason that made me wonder is the proportion in which virtual coins are distributed.
The address that 80% of all meme coin units are on.
Coincidence or not, the same holder holds substantial amounts of meme coins from :
Official Barron Trump
Official Lara Trump
Official Stargate
Official Kate Trump
Official JDVance
Official D.O.G.E
Official Tiffany Trump
Official Ivana Trump
Official Ross Ulbrich
Official Eric Trump
Official Musk
Conclusions
Although it seems hard to imagine for an American president, for the head of state of the greatest global power, the meme coin he launched is a hoax in disguise. My personal opinion is that Donald J Trump has knowingly conned his fans and those who invest in meme coins. I have written another article that accurately represents the market sentiment, the article is called ” The Cryptocurrency Market: the $3 Trillion Industry that Almost No One Understands“.
Please, I really insist, stop buying meme coins, stop investing in cryptocurrencies that create hype without a lengthy study beforehand. Don’t invest more than you can lose, turn to sources of information such as academies of serious exchange platforms, turn to people who don’t promise you huge profits because there is a saying “it’s too good to be true”.Well, most of the time it’s not true, if it’s too good.