President-elect Donald Trump’s social media accounts have shared what appears to be an official Solana meme coin called TRUMP days before his inauguration. The meme coin, promoted as an “Official Trump Meme Coin,” reached a market cap of $9 billion within three hours of launch. Donald Trump Launches New Meme Coin President-elect Donald Trump has launched a new Solana-based meme coin through his Truth Social and X accounts just days before he takes office for a second time. The meme coin reached a market cap of $9 billion within hours of its launch, surpassing several prominent meme coins like PEPE and BONK. Crypto traders immediately began buying the coin, generating millions in trading volume. Meanwhile, on-chain investigators and security experts began examining the meme coin more closely, hunting for any potential red flags. Trump posted about the launch on his social accounts stating, “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.” Skepticism Galore The launch of the TRUMP meme coin was met with considerable excitement by the crypto community and Trump’s supporters. However, it also generated skepticism among on-chain investigators. This is because the project and its launch had all the hallmarks of celebrity meme coin scams launched over the past year. These scams generally involved hacking a public personality’s social media account to promote a pump-and-dump scheme. Many in the crypto industry were divided about whether Trump was behind the posts or if his accounts were compromised. BecauseBitcoin founder and CEO Max Schwartman stated, “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).” Launch Appears Legitimate However, the project appears legitimate and associated with the entity that launched Trump’s collectible NFT trading cards, CIC Digital LLC. The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust owns the firm. It is also the firm through which Trump entered a licensing agreement to sell his Trump-branded NFTs. Additionally, the website states, “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.” Referring to the meme coins as “Trump Memes,” the website also clarifies the tokens are not intended to be, or to be subject to an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type. According to the website, there are 200 million TRUMP tokens, with the supply set to grow to 1 billion over three years. It breaks down the token distribution as well, with creators and CIC Digital to receive 80% of the token over three years of tranched unlocks, 10% allocated for public distribution, and another 10% 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.
