The Financial Times (FT) just released an article on the $Trump cryptocurrency

The Financial Times (FT) just released an article on the $Trump cryptocurrency, and how the Trumps have profited from it: https://www.ft.com/content/e2661977-32b8-4674-9d4f-f3816a54899a .

The Financial Times (FT) just released an article on the $Trump cryptocurrency, and how the Trumps have profited from it: https://www.ft.com/content/e2661977-32b8-4674-9d4f-f3816a54899a.

FT says that Trump may have made more than $350 mil. from his cryptocurrency venture. Most of the Trumps’ coins are in the liquidity pool to support the cryptocurrency, and FT notes challenges in understanding just how much the Trumps made off of the meme coin, but it’s not too much of a stretch to think that his gains from this coin alone may eventually approach or even exceed any personal gains from his first term.

As a reminder,Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington noted that "While Trump publicly took credit for donating his taxpayer-funded salary," the presidential salary he donated was not even one-thousandth of the $1.6 billion that he reported making as a businessman in his first term.

Pymnts.com writes that The entities that created the $TRUMP meme coin reportedly made at least $350 million in the three weeks after its launch.

CIC Digital, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight own 80% of the tokens, according to the report.

The website of the meme coin, gettrumpmemes.com, said the project is being run by Fight Fight Fight and “is not distributed or sold by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their respective affiliates or principals,” per the report.

A billion $TRUMP tokens were minted, 200 million were released and 800 million are scheduled to be released over the next three years, according to the report.

Trump also makes money from transaction fees. From Reuters:

Three crypto data firms, including Merkle Science and Chainalysis, analyzed the blockchain, a publicly available ledger that shows all transactions involving $Trump, for Reuters. They estimated that the $Trump token had generated between $86 million and $100 million in trading fees by Jan. 30.

It appears that the $Trump coin has generated $314 million from token sales, $36 million from transaction fees directly on the Solana blockchain, and nearly $100 million (in two weeks) from trading fees. But it doesn’t stop there. CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight (entities tied to Trump) hold 80% of the $TRUMP tokens. As of recent valuations, these holdings are theoretically worth $9.3 billion, though actual liquidity may vary. The token is currently trading at $10.54.

This meme coin makes his his other products (e.g., watches, guitars, high-top sneakers and cologne) look quaint by comparison. This cryptocurrency could enable both domestic and foreign entities to purchase $Trump tokens to enrich Trump and curry favor, violating both the foreign and domestic emolument clauses of the US Constitution. Representative Sam Liccardo introduced the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act for precisely this reason.

But not to worry. It’s all for fun, right? According to the official website,

Trump Memes are intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’ and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type. GetTrumpMemes.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office.

Sure. And this photo of Trump, from the official website is a realistic rendering of Trump: