Outside the Beltway

Trump Launches Meme Coin, Earns $25 Billion

And so it begins.

James Joyner
34

Comments

NYT (“Trump Begins Selling New Crypto Token, Raising Ethical Concerns“):

President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family on Friday started selling a cryptocurrency token featuring an image of Mr. Trump drawn from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that ethics experts assailed as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.

Disclosed just days before his second inauguration, the venture is the latest in a series of moves by Mr. Trump that blur the line between his government role and the continued effort by his family to profit from his power and global fame. It is yet another sign that the Trump family will be much less hesitant in this second term to bend or breach traditional ethical boundaries.

“Much less hesitant” than what? He was constantly profiteering off his name and namesake properties in the first term.

Mr. Trump himself announced the launch of his new business on Friday night on his social media platform, in between announcements about filling key federal government posts. He is calling the token $Trump, selling it with the slogan, “Join the Trump Community. This is History in the Making!”

The venture was organized by CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, which already has been selling an array of other kinds of merchandise like Trump-branded sneakers, fragrances and even digital trading cards.

But this newest venture brings Mr. Trump and his family directly into the world of selling cryptocurrency, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Trump recently disclosed he intended to name a cryptocurrency advocate as S.E.C. chairman.

A disclosure on the website selling the tokens says that CIC Digital and its affiliates own 80 percent of the supply of the new Trump tokens that will be released gradually over the coming three years and that they will be paid “trading revenue” as the tokens are sold.

That sounds like a pretty good deal for the ownership group.

The move by Mr. Trump and his family was immediately condemned by ethics lawyers who said they could not recall a more explicit profiteering effort by an incoming president.

“It is literally cashing in on the presidency — creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office” said Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit ethics group. “It is beyond unprecedented.”

Having people doing business with the government staying at the Washington Trump Hotel, Mar A Lago and other properties—and charging the Secret Service to stay there—was chump change compared to this.

But even some in the cryptocurrency industry were quick to criticize the new token.

“Trump owning 80 percent and timing launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it,” wrote Nick Tomaino, a crypto venture capitalist and former executive at Coinbase, one of the largest crypto trading platforms, in a social media posting on Saturday.

When even crypto bros think you’re being predatory, you have gone to far. I mean, even Gronk know that not real money.

Cryptocurrency markets tend to be highly volatile, in part because tokens are not backed by any tangible assets. The website for Mr. Trump’s new venture includes an extensive collection of disclaimers limiting the ability of anyone buying the token to file a class-action lawsuit related to it and warning buyers that “Trump Memes may be extremely volatile, and price fluctuations in cryptocurrencies could impact the price.”

Mr. Trump has already made clear that he will be working to promote the cryptocurrency industry.

He has announced his intention to appoint regulators who will lift restrictions on the sale of new tokens and ties between cryptocurrency companies and other more traditional financial enterprises.

This stands in contrast to efforts by Biden-era regulators to tightly regulate the industry, out of a concern that a sudden crash in the value of cryptocurrency could potentially lead to a future financial crash.

Axios (“Trump launches meme coin, apparently makes more than $25 billion overnight“):

President-elect Trump launched his own cryptocurrency overnight and swiftly appeared to make more than $25 billion on paper for himself and his companies.

The stunning launch of $TRUMP caught the entire industry off-guard, and speaks to both his personal influence and the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration. It also speaks to the nature of the crypto industry that someone could have $25 billion worth of something that literally did not exist 24 hours previously.

[…]

According to CoinGecko price data, $TRUMP rose more than 600% overnight and was trading just over $32 as of 11 a.m. ET Saturday. That gives the coin a fully diluted market capitalization just north of $32 billion. The meme website says 80% of the supply is held by Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital, and a CIC co-owned entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC. (“Fight fight fight” is what Trump said after being shot at a rally in July.) They are subject to a three-year unlocking schedule, which means they cannot dump all of their holdings at once.

Crucially, though, they will have them unloaded well before the end of Trump’s presidency and, presumably, the value of the coins drops precipitously.

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34 responses to “Trump Launches Meme Coin, Earns $25 Billion”

  1. Barry Avatar
    Barry

    James: ““Much less hesitant” than what? He was constantly profiteering off his name and namesake properties in the first term.”

    “I don’t know if Trump is good for America, but he’s good for us” said Les Moonves, the head of CBS (paraphrase from memory).

    The whole mass media is 100% on board with that idea.

    7
  2. Tony W Avatar
    Tony W

    I guess the DJT stock wasn’t an easy enough path for foreign governments to siphon money to him, so he found a way to do it more directly.

    At some point, he will have crossed a line that even a Republican Congress and a corrupt SCOTUS won’t allow.

    Right?

    4
  3. Barry Avatar
    Barry

    I’m wondering if Trump can steal a cool $100 billion before his term ends.

    4
  4. Mikey Avatar
    Mikey

    @Tony W:

    At some point, he will have crossed a line that even a Republican Congress and a corrupt SCOTUS won’t allow.

    Right?

    Narrator: It was, in fact, not right, as no such line existed.

    18
  5. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    It’s never been more important for American citizens to get off their butts and write regularly to their senators and representatives (both levels) and let them know they’re not happy with something. Don’t make threats or rave, just say things like “I was not pleased to hear your comments on XXXXXXX; that’s not what I voted for. My brother and his wife came to dinner last night, and we all discussed it, and they’re not impressed either. Please consider your words more carefully.”

    Few things agitate politicians more than the idea that their constituents are (a) watching their actions and words with disapproval; and (b) talking about them to other people. Between elections, the average politicians just wants to fly beneath the public’s radar.

    4
  6. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    “…and many will likely get hurt by it,” wrote Nick Tomaino

    And that’s the best case scenario. The sooner, the better. But I’m not holding my breath, since people have already been willing to pump up the meme coin’s market value to $32 billion…wait, now $71 billion…and one more check before posting…$64 billion.

    1
  7. Bill Jempty Avatar
    Bill Jempty

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    It’s never been more important for American citizens to get off their butts and write regularly to their senators and representatives (both levels) and let them know they’re not happy with something.

    Writing your congress critters is a waste of time. You will get a form letter reply if you are lucky.

    2
  8. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    @Tony W:
    Speaking of DJT stock, we recently found out that our next US Attorney General received $3 million of it as a “consultant” on last year’s Trump Media merger. She said she’ll divest her shares within 90 days, which is not a bad thing for her financially. $3 million will buy a lot of loyalty–so far it’s prevented her from acknowledging, under oath, the clear fact she knows very well that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.

    5
  9. Not the IT Dept. Avatar
    Not the IT Dept.

    @Bill Jempty:

    Probably, but since I’m not collecting response letters, I don’t care. They do track letters and note the contents and the yes/no of the support. If enough people are doing it, they will take notice – whether they want to or not.

    I was raised by parents who believed in “civic duty” – voters have duties as well as rights. Politicians usually want a passive electorate. Jempty’s advice would help provide them with one.

    8
  10. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    We have to change the way Americans see the super wealthy. Billionaires aren’t businessmen, they’re hoarders. They sequester vast piles of money that could solve a great many problems. But they aren’t just greedy, they have something messed up in their heads. They aren’t symbols of success, they are symbols of a kind of madness.

    The money they hoard can and should be taxed away. We need a wealth tax. Frame it properly and it would have 60% bipartisan support. Democrats need to pivot away from identity politics and into class consciousness. Tax the rich, bust up the monopolies, free the money. Fuck the billionaires.

    I’m impatient with the impotent whining. This is easy, low-hanging fruit. It’s Trump’s Achilles heel. This is a job for content creators. I’m doing what I can, putting together a new book series, but I have to get past frightened gatekeepers, so it’s iffy. But this issue is such a big, juicy, easy-to-grab apple on a low branch. Content creators arise!

    9
  11. James Joyner Avatar
    James Joyner

    @Michael Reynolds: I don’t mind, say, a Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates being obscenely rich. They actually contributed something. But getting obscenely rich off financial speculation and currency manipulation seems like a different beast altogether.

    4
  12. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    Exciting news! The White House is Open For Business! All schemes considered! Just let The Don “wet his beak!”

    6
  13. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Michael Reynolds: The vast amounts of accumulated money are being leveraged to deform and bend a social system, a social compact to further advantage particular set of uber wealthy at the expense of the less well off.

    And none of this is necessary for the continuity of the wealthy, whose wealthy status has in fact been enabled by a stable, functional, civil society that they now scavenge.

    I do not oppose wealth or its creation, and certainly not the personal prerogative to pursue financial success. But, I do oppose, and all Americans should oppose, the obscene leverage of the wealth of the few, against the well being of the many.

    The wealthy are sawing off the branch upon which they perch, and which will crash down upon us all.

    There is much to commend a stable state social process that encourages and supports the ability of all to thrive.

    7
  14. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    The most openly corrupt president in American History
    … (sorry Warren Harding, it had to happen sometime)
    The sewer is again open for business.
    Let the grifting begin again.
    Cue up the music, by Badfinget, “Come and Get it.’ around 1970

    If you want it, here it is, come and get it
    Mmh, make your mind up fast
    If you want it, any time, I can give it
    But you’d better hurry ’cause it may not last

    Did I hear you say that there must be a catch
    Will you walk away from a fool and his money?
    If you want it, here it is, come and get it
    But you’d better hurry ’cause it’s goin’ fast

    If you want it, here it is, come and get it
    Mmh, make your mind up fast
    If you want it, any time, I can give it
    But you’d better hurry ’cause it may not last

    Did I hear you say that there must be a catch?
    Will you walk away from a fool and his money?
    Sonny

    If you want it, here it is, come and get it
    But you’d better hurry ’cause it’s goin’ fast
    You’d better hurry ’cause it’s goin’ fast
    Fool and his money, Sonny

    If you want it, here it is, come and get it
    But you’d better hurry ’cause it’s goin’ fast
    You’d better hurry ’cause it’s goin’ fast

    7
  15. Lucysfootball Avatar
    Lucysfootball

    @Tony W: At some point, he will have crossed a line that even a Republican Congress and a corrupt SCOTUS won’t allow.
    Is it April Fool’s Day already?

    5
  16. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    @Tony W:

    At some point, he will have crossed a line that even a Republican Congress and a corrupt SCOTUS won’t allow.
    Right?

    Chief Justice Roberts just texted you and cc’d me with a … ROLFLMAO
    In fact, Harlan Crowe bought one for Justice Thomas.
    Justice Alito’s wife bought one and is now flying the Bahamian and the Cayman Island flags.

    4
  17. becca Avatar
    becca

    @al Ameda: as a soul chaser…

    “Blow up your TV
    Throw away your paper
    Go to the country
    Build you a home
    Plant a little garden
    Eat a lot of peaches
    Try an’ find Jesus on your own”

    4
  18. Lucysfootball Avatar
    Lucysfootball

    Trump has restrictions on selling, but those restrictions don’t apply to others. how many of his buddies bought at the subscription price and are cashing out to make a quick $10 million? Is there any way to check whether members of Congress invested in this? What about prospective cabinet members? That should be the first question asked of any Trump nominee for any position.

    2
  19. Tim D. Avatar
    Tim D.

    Let’s not forget how fake mad the GOP was about whatever Hunter Biden was incompetently trying to do using his dad’s name. I know the hypocrisy ship sailed years ago, but still, Trump himself is doing at massive scale what they tried to pin on Hunter.

    9
  20. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @James Joyner:
    I do not accept that any individual in a democratic country should have enough money to end homelessness, and not only doesn’t, but aggressively defends his endless accumulation of more, more, more while refusing to contribute anything. These are not mentally healthy people. These are sociopaths. These are leeches living for free off a society they undermine for their own profit.

    100 million, then we start applying a wealth tax. These people should be anathematized. Time for a non-violent guillotine.

    It’s also the only issue that can unite much of the Left and much of the Right. This is the division we should encourage.

    @Rob1:
    If they have it, they will leverage it. The only way to limit their power is to limit their wealth.

    13
  21. ,just nutha Avatar
    ,just nutha

    We’ve spent longer than I’ve been alive building protections against market/economic catastrophe and Trump has dismantled them in one day. “What a country you have.”

    4
  22. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    @Michael Reynolds: Much as I hate to say it, JFK took the first step leading to here. He cut the top marginal rate from 90 to 75%. That was a perfectly sensible move to increase revenue. Laffer was right that too high a rate cuts revenue, but he lied about the optimum rate, which for the Federal income tax was long known to be about 75%. But at the time no one realized the high rate reduced concentration of great wealth that would otherwise enable political ratfracking.

    It’s hard to overcome the Calvinist attitude that wealth is a reward for virtue. But perhaps, as in the Gilded Age, the excesses will make it possible. But there’s a more basic problem. Democrats are a big tent, we* have a lot of very wealthy funders on our side, too. Like most bothsides, they have a lot more, but we can’t afford to drive ours away. Many of ours have expressed an understanding their taxes need to be raised, but that doesn’t mean they’d keep donating if we attack billionaires generally.

    GOPs have shown the effectiveness, even need, for a political enemy, an “other”. Democrats need an enemy. It’s difficult to distinguish in propaganda between our good billionaires and their bad billionaires. Plus, rightly, liberals don’t like to hurt people. Most of the creatives are on our side, they should be able to come up with something. Have any suggestion yourself, Michael? GOPs have shown that imaginary enemies work, like cat eating Haitians or sex change surgery in grade schools. It doesn’t have to make sense, it has to resonate emotionally. Maybe we could create a conspiracy around something like Illuminati 2.0. Musk, Zuckerberg, and Jeff are obviously members, but Soros, Melinda Gates, Bloomberg, etc. aren’t. Or maybe vampire blood drinkers, like Theil could be the enemy. Fascists is good, but we haven’t worried about them until recently. GOPs spent decades labeling people as “socialists” and making it out to be a bad thing. For a long time they even made “liberal” a bad thing. It takes long preparation.
    ___
    * As usual, when I say “we”, or “us” or some such in these comments, I believe that, with a handful of exceptions, we commenters at OTB belong to the reality based community.

    2
  23. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @gVOR10:
    We have to be prepared to alienate our own billionaires. What does it profit a party to gain the world and lose its soul? Divide people White and non-White, that’s 60/40. Divide people male/female, that’s 50/50. Divide people billionaire and non-billionaire, that’s 99/1.

    This is basic Little Guy vs. The Man. That used to be a sweet spot for liberals and progressives like Teddy Roosevelt. If he can bust the trusts why can’t we bust the billionaires? We do still have more power, and collectively more money.

    Have any suggestion yourself, Michael?

    I am actively working on it. I’ll be working on it as soon as I finish this cigar. But I am not a YouTube/TikTok/Instagram content creator, I’m an old-fashioned writer. I intend to do what I can, but I have limits.

    4
  24. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Not the IT Dept.:

    They do track letters and note the contents and the yes/no of the support. If enough people are doing it, they will take notice – whether they want to or not.

    I was raised by parents who believed in “civic duty” – voters have duties as well as rights. Politicians usually want a passive electorate. Jempty’s advice would help provide them with one.

    Yep. This society somehow has failed to impress upon its members, the direct link between participation and outcome. We get what we work, or fail to work for.

    1
  25. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Lucysfootball:

    At some point, he will have crossed a line that even a Republican Congress and a corrupt SCOTUS won’t allow.

    I’m not entertaining that illusion anymore, given all that we have witnessed and endured from this Republican Party over the past 8 years. With Trump’s return to the White House, we have crossed a line, a demarcation point, into an upside down world beyond the “looking glass” (or any self-reflection.

    The only thing keeping us in check now is gravity, and basic fiscal realities that even the velocity of sleight-of-hand cryptocurrency cannot escape.

    3
  26. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Michael Reynolds:

    But I am not a YouTube/TikTok/Instagram content creator, I’m an old-fashioned writer. I intend to do what I can,

    I’m looking forward to it, man!

    1
  27. Rob1 Avatar
    Rob1

    @Michael Reynolds:

    These are not mentally healthy people. These are sociopaths.

    At the very least, the ones that destructively extract wealth from their community, are exhibiting what might be called anti-social behavior. And toxic narcissism often seems requisite.

    3
  28. Tom Strong Avatar
    Tom Strong

    @James Joyner: yes, they contributed something. And now they are contributing the proceeds of that wealth to undermining our democratic system and enforcing oligarchy and kakistocracy on the rest of us. They are now the enemies of freedom.

    5
  29. Hal_10000 Avatar
    Hal_10000

    @Michael Reynolds:

    The problem is that there isn’t a Scrooge McDuck type vault filled with gold. For most of them, like Musk and Bezos, it consists of stock in their own companies. They’re not “hoarding” in any real sense. It’s paper wealth and the value of it changes depending on which way the breeze blows. Donald Trump’s wealth is anywhere between a few hundred million and $20 billion depending on who you ask. And he can hire tons of lawyers to argue for the lower value at tax time.

    This is why most countries have abandoned wealth taxes because it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Income is easy to tax. Wealth in the form of assets is not.

    As for Trump, this is just open corruption because he knows no one is going to hold him accountable — not Congress, not the Courts and not the voters. The next four years are going to be a looting the likes of which we have never seen in history.

    3
  30. Lucysfootball Avatar
    Lucysfootball

    Since Trump is openly pushing crypto there is every reason to assume that will be another asset that will go up. If bitcoin doubled from where it is now, another $4 trillion+ of wealth is “created”. Since most of bitcoin is owned by the top 1%, they can all throw another bundle on the pile. I can also imagine a trickle down effect, especially for hard assets like real estate. Since housing is about 35% of CPI would not be surprised if inflation drifts upwards.

    1
  31. Just nutha ignint cracker Avatar
    Just nutha ignint cracker

    @Hal_10000: You and MR are using different definitions of “hoarding.” Yours is theoretically more sound, but his can be addressed as a practical matter more easily. I’ll leave it to greater minds than mine to decide which way to go.

    1
  32. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    @Tim D.: The Musks and Kushners of this world wouldn’t cross the road to pick up the kind of loose change House Republicans spent the last two years gibbering about in their investigation of the “Biden Crime Family”. But Trump continues to demonstrate his remarkable obsession with making and hoarding money, selling Christmas ornaments, guitars and watches even as his paper wealth makes him a multi-billionaire. Like shipwreck victims who steal and hide food in strange places even after they’ve been rescued, Trump’s 1990s bankruptcies seem to have made him so unbalanced that too much money is never enough.

  33. Michael Reynolds Avatar
    Michael Reynolds

    @Hal_10000:
    Stocks are known quantities. They can’t really be hidden. I see no reason the IRS can’t accept equities as payments.

    The more Trump loots, the more the distaste will rise. Bringing Elon is as the front third of President Mumpin was a mistake. Listen, MAGAs may hate every minority they can think of, but they don’t love billionaires. Lefties may love every minority, but that doesn’t mean they love billionaires, either. Common enemy.

    This is a really good issue. This could be the best issue we’ve had in a long time. Call it education, or call it propaganda, the creative community can do this. This is easy. But we need a general consensus because this is not the road we’ve been on.

    1
  34. Eusebio Avatar
    Eusebio

    It continues. Today, less than 48 hours after releasing the trump meme coin, the trump people released another—the melania meme coin. Like the trump coin, it has a total supply of one billion coins. But at a current market value of about $8/coin, the total melania meme coin value is only $8 billion.

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