\n<\/p>\n
Donald Trump broke the hearts of crypto bros by failing to do or say anything related to digital assets on his first day as the 47th President of the United States.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Trump memecoin madness
\u2022 Critics pounce
\u2022 SEC\/CFTC changes
\u2022 Exchanges bend the knee
\u2022 WLF enjoys TRUMP tailwind
\u2022 Acting FDIC chair promises banking changes
\u2022 BTC\u2019 strategic reserve\u2019 still in limbo<\/p>\n
Trump shocked nearly everyone by launching an official $TRUMP memecoin late on the night of January 17, just as the \u2018crypto\u2019 cognoscenti were gathered for their \u2018crypto ball\u2019 celebrating Trump\u2019s inauguration. Announced via Trump\u2019s official social media channels, the $TRUMP news was first greeted with suspicion that the accounts had been hacked by the token issuers.<\/p>\n
But the news was quickly confirmed, sparking a meteoric rise in the Solana-based token\u2019s fiat value. Within an exceedingly brief period, the token rocketed into the top 20 in terms of overall market cap, as the token\u2019s opening price of $10 soared to over $72 by midday on January 19. Thanks to $TRUMP\u2019s launch, the president-elect increased his net worth (on paper, at least) by billions<\/em> of dollars.<\/p>\n Reaction to $TRUMP was decidedly mixed, with many crypto bros cheering on their champion for following them down the memecoin rabbit hole. Their only objection seemed to be the lack of advance notice that prevented them from buying TRUMP at even lower prices.<\/p>\n But critics took a dimmer view. Some noted the token\u2019s sketchy tokenomics\u201480% of supply controlled by insiders who are allowed to start selling in three months\u2014as well as the glaring conflicts of interest in the man who now controls the crypto regulatory agenda deciding to issue tokens that personally enrich himself and his family.<\/p>\n Later on January 19, $TRUMP crashed hard, falling below $50 in the space of a few hours (and fell to $40 following Trump\u2019s inaugural speech). The culprit, it turned out, was another<\/em> Trump family memecoin, this one issued by Trump\u2019s wife, Melania.<\/p>\n The $MELANIA token\u2014which has even sketchier tokenomics than $TRUMP\u2014has undergone even more dramatic volatility\u2014shooting up to nearly $13, falling below $8, retaking $13, then falling below $8 again\u2014all in the space of 14 hours or so. As Inauguration Day came to a close, the token was struggling to stay above $4.<\/p>\n The back-to-back release of two Trump memecoins has the crypto sector waiting to see if other family members\u2014or domestic servants or one of the religious leaders who spoke at the inauguration\u2014will drop their own tokens.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve already seen scammers take advantage of this confusion, one claiming that a token had been issued by Donald and Melania\u2019s son, Barron. The $BARRON token soared to a $460 million market cap before abruptly losing 95% of its value.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the rise of the Trump family tokens appears to have come at the expense of many other high-profile memecoins, including DOGE, PEPE, SHIB and others, which saw major selloffs following confirmation that $TRUMP was real. The suggestion is that there\u2019s a finite amount of value in the memecoin ecosystem, and there can be only one king (and queen) of this sh*tcoin hill.<\/p>\n The reviews are in<\/strong><\/p>\n The tokens\u2019 critics didn\u2019t mince words. Balajis Srinivisan, former CTO at the Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN)\u00a0exchange and general partner at the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital group, said every memecoin is \u201ca zero-sum lottery. There is no wealth creation \u2026 after an initial spike, the price eventually crashes and the last buyers lose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n Barstool Sports boss Dave Portnoy compared $TRUMP to the Hawk Tuah girl\u2019s memecoin debacle, adding \u201c(c)an I string up my own coin now and tell people it\u2019s a Ponzi scheme from the jump and I\u2019m gonna rug pull at some point and you better just hope you\u2019re out when I do it and that would make the entire thing legal?\u201d<\/p>\n Politico quoted BTC maximalist Nic Carter saying it was \u201cabsolutely preposterous that (Trump) would do this \u2026 They\u2019re plumbing new depths of idiocy with the memecoin launch.\u201d<\/p>\n Mark Cuban suggested the message from the president-elect was \u201cMint it, print it, sell it F*ck it.\u201d Cuban also warned that this action meant goodbye to \u201cwhatever hope the crypto industry had of legitimizing itself.\u201d<\/p>\n Gabor Gurbacs, Van Eck\u2019s former head of digital asset strategy, tweeted that Trump should \u201cfire his crypto advisors\u201d because these tokens \u201ccost the U.S., the presidency and his family a lot of credibility and the consequences haven\u2019t even started.\u201d<\/p>\n Former White House spokesman Anthony Scaramucci called the $TRUMP launch \u201cIdi Amin level corruption\u201d and warned that \u201canyone in the world can essentially deposit money into bank account of President of USA with a couple clicks. Every favor\u2014geopolitical, corporate or personal\u2014is now on sale, right out in the open.\u201d<\/p>\n