Trump posts send 'official' $TRUMP memecoin to $9 billion market cap

President-elect Donald Trump launched a Solana-based memecoin Friday night via posts on his social media accounts, three days before he takes the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States. The memecoin quickly reached a market cap of over $9 billion, overtaking established memecoins such as Pepe and Bonk. 

“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE!” the messages read on Trump’s official Truth Social and X accounts. “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.”

Though some crypto investors initially suspected a hack, the project appears to be associated with the same entity that launched Trump's collectible NFT trading cards , CIC Digital LLC. CIC Digital LLC is fully owned by The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and is the entity through which Trump entered into a licensing agreement for the sale of his Trump-branded NFTs, earning more than $7 million according to a financial disclosure form. 

"CIC Digital LLC and Celebration Cards LLC, the owners of Fight Fight Fight LLC, will receive trading revenue derived from trading activities of Trump Meme Cards," the token's website states. The website refers to the tokens as "Trump Memes," and states the tokens "...are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type." 

Trump also used his Truth Social account Friday night to announce the appointment of 'Peggy Schwinn' as the Deputy Secretary of Education and to share a personal message rallying his fans as his inauguration on Monday approaches. (Trump apparently meant to announce the appointment of Penny Schwinn , but mistyped.) 

The token's website says there are 200 million $TRUMP tokens available on day one, with the supply growing to a total of one billion over three years. "Creators and CIC Digital" are set to receive 80% of the token over three years of tranched unlocks, with 10% allocated for "Public Distribution" and a final 10% set aside for "Liquidity." 

“I don't like to tweet about coins, and in no way shape or form is this a promotion,” a Jupiter Exchange dev posted on X . “But to keep people safe, this is the real Trump coin. We have approved it to the Jupiter strictlist.”

Representatives for Trump could not be immediately reached for comment.

Just three hours after launch, the token rocketed to a market cap of nearly $9 billion, before retreating slightly, according to on-chain data . 

Coincidentally, crypto firms are hosting an inaugural "Crypto Ball" Friday night in downtown Washington. The President-elect's son, Donald Trump Jr., showed up at the event , which sold tickets for $2,500 per person. Snoop Dogg also performed . 

"The event, which is set to feature Snoop Dogg as a musical guest, is being put on in part by David Bailey, who runs a bitcoin conference that Trump spoke at last summer," Politico reports . "Other sponsors include the Coinbase-backed advocacy group Stand With Crypto and the digital asset firms Exodus, Anchorage Digital and Kraken."

Trump’s token shift

A former crypto-skeptic, Trump championed himself as “ the crypto president ” throughout his ca campaign in 2024. He plans to issue an executive order making crypto a " national policy priority " after his inauguration on Monday, according to Bloomberg sources. The executive order aims to enhance collaboration between the government and the crypto industry through a new crypto advisory council.

Notably, Trump supported the debut of World Liberty Financial , a DeFi protocol that counts former that counts the President-elect as its "chief crypto advocate. Pundits decried World Liberty Financial's lackluster sales, with Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan calling it “a meme masquerading as a utility project.”

"Everything this man touches is a grift, and his newfound policy stance is no different," crypto-friendly Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel of North Carolina told The Block last September. "For those of us who have worked to advance crypto innovations through real bipartisan action, Trump’s involvement does nothing but harm serious efforts to build a secure and regulated future for digital assets."

Memecoins inspired by Trump had been surging higher over the past few weeks but were selling off Friday night, with several down between 20-50%.