Trump's Crypto Venture Earns $350 Million Within 18 Days Of Memecoin Launch: 'It's A Terrible Example,' Says Expert
U.S. President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency project has reportedly amassed a whopping $350 million from the sale of his memecoin.
What Happened: The entities managing the project have accumulated this sum from $TRUMP (CRYPTO: TRUMP) sales in the three weeks following its January launch, as per a report by the Financial Times. The memecoin, a token devoid of practical application, was introduced by Trump and his wife Melania shortly before his White House return, inciting a strong backlash.
The FT determined the earnings by tracking the movement of tokens from their creation into official wallets and their eventual listing for sale on trading platforms within the Solana (CRYPTO: SOL) blockchain. Trump-related accounts pulled $350 million from the primary liquidity pool within 18 days of its launch, as the earnings comprised $314 million from token sales and $36 million from fees, as per calculations by FT.
Investors and ethics experts have raised concerns that selling these crypto tokens might enable anonymous donations to the President while taking advantage of retail investors. Tim Massad, an adjunct law professor at Georgetown Law School and former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair, opined, “The president of the United States should not be essentially doing things to profit from his office while in office.” Massad also added, "It's a terrible example."
Various tokens that were listed for sale on cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance may have also fetched additional earnings. The exact personal profit for the president remains uncertain.
Why It Matters: This development follows a series of events that have raised eyebrows. In February, BitMEX Research criticized Trump’s memecoin launch as a glaring example of political corruption facilitated by blockchain technology. This move has been seen as a reflection of the erosion of trust in U.S. leadership over several decades.
Following Trump’s address to the joint session of Congress, the value of the Trump memecoin surged by over 6%, becoming the most successful billion-dollar-plus capitalization meme coin in the last 24 hours. Melania Trump’s Official Melania coin (CRYPTO: MELANIA) also saw a 5% spike.
However, the memecoin market has not been without its casualties. In March, a crypto trader reportedly suffered a loss of $15.68 million after trading Melania Trump’s official memecoin.
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