Trump’s TRUMP Coin Flip-Flop: Political Memecoin or Personal Piggy Bank?
Former president can’t decide if he’s cashing in or just casually observing the memecoin circus.
Subheader: The Art of the (Non)Denial
Trump’s latest crypto dance—alternately shrugging off and winking at the TRUMP token’s 800% rally—would make a hedge fund manager blush. Classic ’plausible deniability’ meets Web3 grift.
Subheader: Politics Meets Pump-and-Dump
With trading volumes hitting $50M daily, the MAGA-themed token proves one immutable law: in crypto, every populist movement eventually becomes a liquidity pool. Just don’t ask who’s taking the exit liquidity.
Token ownership linked to Trump’s companies
Ownership records point to significant ties between Trump-affiliated entities and the TRUMP coin. Two companies, CIC Digital LLC, a branch of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a joint venture involving CIC, collectively control 80% of the coin’s total one billion token supply.
The majority of those holdings are under lock and key, set to be gradually unlocked over the next three years. The first such unlock occurred on April 18, with 40 million tokens, valued at $454 million at the time, transferred to CIC Digital.
Asked whether he planned to donate any of his potential crypto profits to the government, as he has pledged to do with his presidential salary, Trump demurred.
“I never thought of that. I mean, should I contribute all of my real estate that I’ve owned for many years if it goes up a little bit because I’m president and doing a good job? I don’t think so,” he propounded.
In the interview, the POTUS used a familiar line of attack that liberal leaders like Senator Elizabeth Warren have lambasted him with. He singled out California Rep Nancy Pelosi, accusing her of benefiting financially through political connections.
“But who really profits is somebody like Nancy Pelosi who uses inside information,” Trump said. “She worked for $175,000 a year, and that’s at the high end, and she’s worth $150 to $200 million. OK? You ought to look at Nancy Pelosi and you ought to look at some of these politicians that are stonecold crooks. I was very wealthy when I came in.”
Trump: Crypto is important and popular
Aside from addressing TRUMP coin’s performance, Trump doubled down on his support for crypto, tying their adoption to the nature of America as a competitive nation. “I want crypto,” he stated. “I think crypto’s important because if we don’t do it, China’s going to. And it’s new, it’s very popular, it’s very hot.”
He bashed his predecessor, Joe Biden, claiming the former president initially opposed digital currencies before changing his position in an attempt to appeal to digital asset supporters ahead of the 2024 election.
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