Donald Trump's cryptocurrency initiative has raised a minimum of $350 million in three weeks, sparking ethics issues and questions about financial transparency. An analysis by the Financial Times of blockchain data showed that Trump-associated entities earned millions from selling $TRUMP, a memecoin that was introduced in January.
The previous President, who has taken a stance as a champion of digital assets, launched the token days before reentering the White House. Ethics analysts caution that the plan gives a path for secret contributions to Trump and invites retail traders to speculate.
Tim Massad, a former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, denounced the action, saying, "The president of the United States should not be profiting from his office while in office. It's a terrible example."
Trump-linked wallets rack up millions
FT estimates revealed that wallets linked to Trump generated $314 million from immediate token sales directly on the Solana blockchain network, together with another $36 million in the form of transactions. The real profits are yet to be revealed since the project also distributed its tokens on exchange platforms such as Binance.
One billion $TRUMP tokens were issued, of which 200 million were released initially. The remaining 800 million are to be released within the next three years. Trump-associated accounts continue to possess a huge inventory of 831 million coins worth $10.8 billion today—albeit the token's price has dropped 82% from its high of $75 to approximately $13.
Although the White House and Gettrumpmemes.com, the official website for the project, have not returned queries, the site reports two parties—CIC Digital LLC, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC—possessing 80% of the tokens. The disclaimer asserts the project is not under Trump's or his companies' direct control.
Market manipulation concerns
The $TRUMP team has moved to counter market volatility. Blockchain data indicate that Trump-associated wallets withdrew USDC stablecoin gains and invested $291 million into a liquidity pool, a strategy aimed at stabilizing the price of the token.
More evidence of market intervention came when Melania Trump created her own memecoin, $MELANIA, only two days after the launch of $TRUMP. The news created a sell-off, dropping $TRUMP's price. To counter this, the project paid $1 million to purchase tokens at $33.23 per token, an apparent measure to prop up the price.
Nicolas Vaiman, the CEO of analytics company Bubblemaps, said, "They wanted to defend the price. It's a classic move in crypto—using their own treasury to defend the charts."
Speculative trading and political issues
Trump's social media hype has also been questioned about his involvement in the speculative mania. In an X, formerly Twitter, post, he encouraged followers to "GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW," pointing to the token's website.
His support has encouraged other political leaders to venture into the memecoin space. Politicians in the Central African Republic and Argentina recently endorsed their own tokens, only to have their prices crash, leaving investors with significant losses.
Trump's crypto project has also spawned over 700 imitators, with opportunists looking to ride the president's brand. As he gets set to host a White House summit with leading cryptocurrency executives, the project's financial implications remain under the microscope.
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