Donald Trump has ventured further into the crypto world with the launch of Official Trump (TRUMP), a Solana-based meme coin.

Announced just days before his second-term inauguration, the TRUMP token blends meme culture, politics, and blockchain into one eye-catching package.

Despite initial skepticism of the token, confirmations from the President’s camp in the hours following its launch assured users of its legitimacy.

Here’s what you need to know about TRUMP and why it’s gaining attention.

A meme coin with a twist

Like other meme coins such as Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, TRUMP leverages humor and cultural references to engage a broader audience.

What Are Meme Coins and Tokens?

Memes have always been part of crypto culture—so it was perhaps inevitable that they would be financialized using the same technology that birthed cryptocurrencies. Initially, meme coins like Dogecoin were created as a joke, poking fun at cryptocurrencies—but, in true decentralized fashion, they’ve evolved beyond their creators’ original intentions. With their highly volatile prices shaped by influencers and rapidly moving news cycles, meme coins have become a growing sector of the crypto econom...

However, its origin sets it apart as the first high-profile meme coin explicitly tied to a U.S. President. The project was unveiled via Trump’s official Truth Social and X accounts, celebrating his election victory and upcoming inauguration on January 20, 2025.

TRUMP is hosted on the Solana blockchain, a platform chosen for its speed and low transaction costs, making it well-suited for a mass-market crypto asset.

Did Donald Trump Really Just Drop a Solana Meme Coin?

Talk about a Friday night surprise. President-elect Donald Trump's social media accounts shared what appears to be an official Solana meme coin called TRUMP, just three days before he's set to be sworn in for his second term in the White House. Degen traders bought in immediately, generating hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of trading volume as on-chain sleuths and security experts hunted for red flags. But with Trump's X and Truth Social posts still live after more than an hour, and some...

Since its launch, the token has clocked a $10 billion market cap, according to data from CoinGecko, with a fully diluted valuation above $51 billion. Per Solscan, the token has roughly 855,000 unique on-chain address holders.

How TRUMP works

The TRUMP token has a total supply of 1 billion tokens, though only 200 million were released for trading at launch. The remaining tokens are locked and will be gradually unlocked over three years.

The project is managed by CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a Delaware-based entity.

According to its official website, TRUMP is “not intended to be an investment opportunity” and emphasizes its non-political and non-security nature.

Trump Memes are designed as expressions of support and engagement with the ideals symbolized by "$TRUMP" and its associated artwork, the website reads.

CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC collectively own 80% of TRUMP’s supply, unlocking over three years, and derive revenue from trading activities.

The token has quickly become a cultural and economic phenomenon, attracting traders, meme enthusiasts, and Trump supporters alike. But crypto analytics platform Bubblemaps flagged “suspicious trades” on the meme coin, pointing to addresses that scooped up millions of dollars of the token in its first minute of trading.

Why launch a meme coin?

Meme coins are powerful tools for community building and viral marketing. The TRUMP token is part of Trump’s broader embrace of crypto and digital merchandise.

Between 2022 and 2024, Trump launched several NFT collections, earning millions in licensing fees. TRUMP extended this strategy, positioning the token to engage his audience and amplify his brand.

Trump Crypto Project World Liberty Plans to Issue Stablecoin, Sources Say

Donald Trump’s controversial crypto project, World Liberty Financial—which recently raised $14 million in an initial token sale—has plans to create and issue its own stablecoin, sources familiar with the matter told Decrypt.  The stablecoin, a type of cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value that is often pegged to the U.S. dollar, is still in development and could take some time to launch. The World Liberty team is still determining how to make the financial product safe before bringing i...

Trump-linked DeFi project ​​World Liberty Financial, meanwhile, plans to leverage the Trump brand to build the go-to service for retail investors looking to enter the worlds of crypto trading and decentralized finance.

By launching his own meme token, the President aims to tap into the cultural significance of crypto while potentially laying the groundwork for future crypto-related initiatives.

What does TRUMP mean for crypto?

The launch of TRUMP is aligned with Trump’s pro-crypto platform. During his campaign, Trump pledged to make the U.S. a global leader in crypto, making sweeping promises including an executive order prioritizing blockchain innovation. Trump has also teased the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve.

Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Is Now on the Table—Here's How It Could Work

Now that Donald Trump is set to become the next president of the United States, a strategic Bitcoin reserve is in the cards. The idea was teased by Trump and several other U.S. politicians in July and early August, but lost steam following a Bitcoin price crash. One of those prominent voices is that of Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming who has been called the “Bitcoin Senator” for her vocal support of the crypto industry. She shared strategic reserve plans at the Bitcoin conferen...

The token’s launch signals a broader acceptance of crypto’s role in politics and culture by tying his brand to a blockchain project. What, if any, utility TRUMP will have has yet to be seen, and the bulk of interest in the immediate aftermath of the coin’s launch was largely speculative.

TRUMP was swiftly followed by the launch of MELANIA, a meme coin linked to his wife Melania Trump. The launch of TRUMP proved a salutary lesson in meme coin volatility, with the price of the token surging to highs of $72 in the wake of its launch, before plummeting to $40 and subsequently recovering to around $50.

Why Most Meme Coins Die Young

Meme coins are great. They’re fun and they onboard a ton of new users into the space—and every once in a while, they break through the on-chain noise and become new pillars of community for people to rally around, like Shiba Inu (SHIB), BONK, or Dogecoin (DOGE). They’re a great tool for onboarding and an even better tool for gambling. They also represent a problem that crypto has faced since the advent of Ethereum’s ERC-20 tokens, and arguably even before then. As long as there are gamblers will...

The launch of TRUMP and MELANIA has not been without controversy, with some in the crypto industry accusing Trump of a “rug pull.” Whether the Trump-themed tokens will endure or go the way of the majority of meme coins has yet to be seen.