Trump and Melania’s Crypto Grifts Plunge More than 80% in Value
The $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens have cratered since their January peaks.
The man who promised to be the first “crypto president” saw the value of his cryptocurrency plummet faster than his popularity.
Days before his inauguration, President Donald Trump announced the launch of a meme cryptocurrency, a type of cryptocurrency based on online propaganda and digital promotion.
The cryptocurrency, traded under the name $TRUMP and inspired by the president’s “Killer! Killer! Killer!” slogan after the assassination attempt, fell from around $75 per coin in January to just $8 today (a drop of 88%).
The cryptocurrency’s value skyrocketed upon its launch, dropping to $40 per coin on the day of Trump’s inauguration, and has been falling steadily ever since.
First Lady Melania Trump followed in her husband’s footsteps into the notoriously volatile cryptocurrency sector, and her cryptocurrency fared even worse.
Trump’s cryptocurrency (MELANIA) has lost more than 98% of its value since its mid-January peak and is now trading at around 20 cents per coin. It’s worth noting that the sharp decline in the value of the Trump family’s digital assets doesn’t necessarily mean the venture is not profitable.
A Reuters investigation in February revealed that during Trump’s first wave of cryptocurrency purchases after their launch, their creators raked in nearly $100 million from transaction fees.
One of these companies, CIC Digital, owned by Trump, controlled approximately $800 million in cryptocurrencies as of February.
In May, a blockchain intelligence firm that collaborated on the Reuters investigation estimated that the Trump Organization had raked in $320 million from cryptocurrency transaction fees.
This estimate was released a few weeks before Trump hosted a dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, reserved for the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP cryptocurrency.
At the event, described as “the most exclusive invitation in the world,” attendees said Trump stayed for 23 minutes before leaving by helicopter.
“The food was terrible,” one attendee told CNBC.
Besides the Trump family, a small group of major cryptocurrency investors benefited from the initial surge: at least 50 large cryptocurrency wallets realized profits exceeding $10 million each. However, another 200,000 wallets, most with small holdings, lost money on the currency.
Since Trump’s inauguration for a second term, the most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, has gained nearly 10%. The White House has eased regulations on digital finance and issued an executive order aimed at ushering in a “golden age of cryptocurrencies.”
Democratic senators have asked the Office of Government Ethics to investigate the president’s investments in digital assets, which they say could violate the constitutional emoluments clause.
The Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
