Only days away from his inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump's social media channels have introduced what seems to be an official Solana meme coin named TRUMP. Promoted as an “Official Trump Meme Coin,” this new token hit a market capitalization of $9 billion within just three hours after its release. Donald Trump Introduces a Fresh Meme Coin Just days before stepping into office for a second time, President-elect Donald Trump has unveiled a new meme coin on Solana via his Truth Social and X accounts. This meme coin quickly shot to a $9 billion market cap soon after its launch, overtaking popular meme coins such as PEPE and BONK. Eager crypto enthusiasts rushed to purchase the coin, resulting in millions of dollars in trading volume. Concurrently, on-chain analysts and security experts began scrutinizing the coin for any warning signs. Trump shared the news on his social media, proclaiming, “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.” Widespread Doubts While the TRUMP meme coin's launch sparked excitement among Trump's supporters and the crypto community, it also faced a great deal of skepticism. On-chain investigators were wary, given the project and its rollout showed signs typical of celebrity meme coin scams seen over the past year, often involving hacked social media accounts to push pump-and-dump schemes. Opinions within the crypto industry were divided over whether Trump himself was behind the posts or if his accounts had been compromised. BecauseBitcoin founder and CEO Max Schwartman commented, “I’m so confused by this. $TRUMP is sitting at a 3B market cap. This must be a hack, right? No way he just launched his own memecoin. If it’s a hack, this will severely mute Trump's bullishness on crypto right as he takes office (bearish). If it’s not a hack then the next president of the United States just launched a shitcoin & things are about to get absolutely out of control this quarter (bullish maybe).” Signs Point to a Legitimate Launch Nonetheless, the project appears to be legitimate and is linked to the same company that released Trump’s collectible NFT trading cards, CIC Digital LLC. This firm is owned by the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. It is also the entity through which Trump entered a licensing agreement for his branded NFTs. The project's website mentions, “CIC Digital LLC and Celebration Cards LLC, the owners of Fight Fight Fight LLC, will receive trading revenue derived from trading activities of Trump Meme Cards.” The website refers to the meme coins as “Trump Memes,” clarifying that the tokens are not meant to serve as an investment opportunity, contract, or security of any kind. According to the site, there are 200 million TRUMP tokens in circulation, with plans to expand this supply to 1 billion over three years. The distribution breakdown indicates that creators and CIC Digital will receive 80% of the tokens over a three-year phased unlock, with 10% designated for public distribution and another 10% set aside for liquidity. “Creators and CIC Digital are set to receive 80% of the token over three years of tranched unlocks, with 10% allocated for Public Distribution and a final 10% set aside for Liquidity.” Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
