Donald Trump's newly launched cryptocurrency soared on Monday, with billions of dollars flowing into trading hours before the president-elect took the oath of office, and its market cap reaching nearly $11 billion.
This meteoric rise in the digital currency's value coincided with Bitcoin's all-time high. This is the latest sign that crypto investors are bullish on the expected deregulation of the industry by the incoming administration.
President Trump introduced a digital asset known as $TRUMP on Friday. By early Monday morning, the price had risen to $52.71.
This valuation equates to a market capitalization of approximately $10.7 billion, making it the 18th largest cryptocurrency, according to CoinMarketCap.
The coin soared to $74.59 on Sunday, a significant increase from its initial price of less than $10 on Saturday morning.
Trading volume in the past 24 hours reached a whopping $52.5 billion.
The token, issued at Solana Block Hein, features branding that includes an image from the July assassination attempt on President Trump.
The Trump family has enthusiastically embraced cryptocurrencies.
Last year, the president-elect's two eldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric, launched a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform aimed at promoting crypto-based financial services while strengthening the role of the U.S. dollar in digital finance. Launched World Liberty Financial (WLF). economy.
The Trump family has close ties to WLF, but although they do not hold public office, they serve as advisors and have been allocated large amounts of WLFI tokens.
The platform is primarily intended for accredited investors and access is restricted for most retail investors to comply with regulatory requirements.
According to the coin's website, 80% of the total $TRUMP tokens are controlled by CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of the Trump Organization along with Fight Fight Fight LLC.
Meanwhile, former first lady Melania Trump launched her own cryptocurrency on Sunday. By early Monday morning, her token was trading around $9.60, giving it a market cap of $1.85 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.
At the same time, Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $109,071.86 in early trading, but has since retreated to around $106,600.
Major cryptocurrencies have increased in value by more than 10% since the beginning of the month, driven by investor optimism.
The launch of Trump’s memecoin sparked mixed reactions within the crypto community.
Justin Danesan, an independent crypto analyst based in Hong Kong, said that while the move may be seen as another showpiece by President Trump, it raises serious ethical and regulatory concerns.
“The introduction of Trump’s official cryptocurrency blurs the lines between governance, profit, and influence,” Danesan said.
“Should public figures, especially those with great political power, be allowed to exert such influence over speculative markets? This is a question likely to be scrutinized by regulators.”
President Trump has vowed to be the “crypto president,” further raising hopes among digital coin enthusiasts that his administration will remove regulatory barriers and accelerate mainstream adoption of crypto assets.
His stance on cryptocurrencies has already energized the market, with Bitcoin's recent rally dating back to his election victory in November.
Trump is set to be sworn in as president at noon ET on Monday, and his approach to cryptocurrency regulation will continue to be a focus in both financial and political circles.
