Trump's New Meme Coin $TRUMP Eclipses $5 Billion Market Cap Days Before Inauguration

The president-elect's latest venture into crypto comes just days before his inauguration.

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday announced the launch of his own meme coin, $TRUMP, which has quickly soared to a market capitalization of over $5 billion.

Here's everything you need to know about the meme coin and Trump's latest venture into cryptocurrency and merchandise sales.

Trump announced the launch of $TRUMP in a Truth Social post late Friday, adding that the cryptocurrency is celebrating his “WINNING” of the presidential election and upcoming inauguration.

"Everyone is talking about crypto and NFTs, so I decided to launch my own meme coin, $TRUMP, to commemorate my WINNING of the presidential election and upcoming inauguration,” Trump said in the post.

The price of $TRUMP has risen by more than 300% to just below $29 as of 10:15 a.m. EST Saturday, reaching a market cap of $5.81 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Solana, a cryptocurrency and blockchain platform, developed the meme coin and has limited the supply of $TRUMP to 200 million coins at launch. However, the overall supply will expand to 1 billion over the next three years, the coin's website states.

Of the total supply at launch, 20% of the coins are available for the public to purchase. Meanwhile, the remaining 80% of tokens that have yet to be publicly released are owned by the Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a company formed in Delaware on Jan. 7, according to state filings. Both companies will receive an undisclosed amount of revenue derived from trading activity.

The token's website includes a disclaimer noting $TRUMP is "not intended to be, or the subject of" an investment opportunity nor a security of any type, and is "not political and has nothing to do with" any political campaign, political office or government agency.

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The trading volume of $TRUMP has also reached over $6.64 billion as of Saturday morning.

Trump, whose campaign was backed by several billionaires with ties to the cryptocurrency industry, has claimed he wanted the U.S. to become the "crypto capital of the planet." His election victory sent bitcoin to several new record highs, eclipsing $100,000 within a month of Election Day.

Roughly $1.8 trillion was added to the global crypto market's aggregate market value in 2024, including $1 trillion since Election Day, according to CoinGecko.

Trump has said he would use his executive powers to reduce regulatory burdens facing crypto firms, including the formation of a new crypto advisory council. The president-elect has reportedly planned to unveil an executive order declaring cryptocurrency a policy priority while advising government agencies to work with the industry.

That order would also establish a bitcoin reserve, allowing the federal government to buy and sell the crypto. News of Trump's plans for the crypto industry sent the price of bitcoin over $105,000 on Friday, the coin's highest price in nearly a month.

Trump's meme coin is his latest merchandise push in recent years, adding to a line of perfumes and colognes and “Trump Watches” celebrating his election win. He launched a series of “Trump Watches” valued up to $100,000 in September, following the debut of $100 silver coins and 1,000 pairs of limited edition sneakers, $60 Trump-branded bibles and NFT cards.

Most of the revenue Trump has received from his merchandise came from his NFTs, which reportedly earned him about $7.2 million in licensing fees. Trump's latest line of signed and unsigned guitars sold out at $11,500 and $1,500 each, respectively, generating a combined $4.6 million in sales.