Trump pumps eponymous meme coin
On Sunday, President Trump used his social media platform, Truth Social, to promote his eponymous meme coin, $TRUMP.
Trump last promoted $TRUMP on January 17, 2025, a few days before he took office. Buoyed by his impending inauguration, $TRUMP peaked at $75.35 on January 19 — a market cap of almost $15 billion for the 200 million coins initially released.
Within a few days of the launch, the price of $TRUMP plunged, dropping to less than $20 by February 1. Over 800,000 retail investors, including many Trump fans, had collectively lost more than $2 billion on $TRUMP. Those losses have only increased as the price continued to decline, sinking to below $11 before Trump's latest post.
Not everyone, however, suffered losses. A select group of large investors were able to rack up huge profits through exquisitely timed transactions. One trader, known only by the code at the end of their crypto wallet, J9tXv, purchased $1.1 million worth of $TRUMP within 2 minutes of Trump's initial announcement. As the price surged, J9tXv sold their $TRUMP coins rapidly, earning tens of millions in profits. Other large traders purchased hundreds of thousands of coins within minutes of the announcement and then profited by selling them quickly. According to one analysis, "fifty of the largest investors in the coin have made profits in excess of $10 million each."
Experts consulted by WIRED believe the trading behavior of large investors in $TRUMP suggests they were tipped off. "To be that quick off the mark, it’s hard to imagine that they had no forewarning,” said Paul Sibenik, the CEO for CryptoForensic Investigators, a firm that investigates crypto cybercrime. Similarly, John Powers, president of the private investigation agency Hudson Intelligence, said he suspected "potential advanced insider knowledge."
Meme coins, which have no inherent value, are especially vulnerable to "pump-and-dump" schemes where celebrities or others with large audiences hype up a coin as insiders with superior information take quick profits.
Investors in $TRUMP, according to the official website, "waive the right to bring a class action lawsuit in relation to the meme coin" or pursue damages based on "deceptive practices" or "misinformation."
How Trump profits from $TRUMP
Along with a select group of large investors, the other major winner was Trump himself. An entity owned by Trump, Fight Fight Fight LLC, owns 80% of $TRUMP — about 800 million coins. Right now, those coins are "locked" and cannot be sold by Trump. But, beginning in mid-April, the coins will be unlocked in tranches, which would allow him to sell the coins for cash. Over the course of Trump's presidency, all 800 million coins will be unlocked. Even at $10 per coin, that is an $8 billion windfall. So Trump has a huge incentive now, and in the future, to make sure that the price of Trump does not sink too low.
Anyone — including foreign governments — can purchase $TRUMP anonymously, boosting the value of the coin and enriching Trump.
Trump's Truth Social post on Sunday initially had the desired impact, spiking the price of $TRUMP by more than a dollar in the minutes after posting. As the afternoon wore on, however, $TRUMP relinquished most of its gains.
No matter what the current price, Trump also earns "revenue derived from trading activities" of $TRUMP. The details of this arrangement are opaque, but analysts told Reuters they believed that Trump-controlled entities earned "between $86 million and $100 million in trading fees" through the end of January.
How Trump monetizes the presidency through $TRUMP
On a basic level, $TRUMP allows Trump to convert the power and prestige of the presidency into cash. Meme coins have no inherent value, and prices are determined by how much buzz and hype their creators can generate. As president, Trump has the largest megaphone in the world, and he is using it to increase interest in $TRUMP.
But there are also slightly more subtle ways Trump is leveraging the presidency to boost the value of $TRUMP. There are tens of thousands of new meme coins minted each day on sites like pump.fun. Almost all of them generate no interest or significant value. Part of this is simply that people never even hear about these coins. But another limiting factor is that most meme coins are not available on popular trading platforms like Coinbase. And major trading platforms are hesitant to list meme coins because most of them are scams.
Getting listed on a platform like Coinbase confers legitimacy on a meme coin and makes the coin available to a much larger number of investors.
Just a few days after $TRUMP was announced, platforms, including Coinbase, made $TRUMP available. They also took the extraordinary step of promoting $TRUMP to their user base.
In June 2023, the SEC charged Coinbase with violating federal securities law. A little over a month after Coinbase listed $TRUMP on its platform, the SEC dismissed the lawsuit. In exchange for the dismissal, Coinbase did not have to agree to do anything.
We started a new publication, Musk Watch. NPR covered our launch HERE. It features accountability journalism focused on one of the most powerful humans in history. It is free to sign up, so I hope you’ll give it a try and let us know what you think.
Trump's meme stock
In addition to promoting his meme coin, Trump also took time Sunday to promote Truth Social, the main product of his publicly traded media company, Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG).
Unlike $TRUMP, TMTG is a real company with an actual product. But it is not a financially successful company. In 2024, TMTG lost over $400 million on just $3.6 million in revenue. That was down from $4.1 million in revenue in 2023, despite Trump's increased profile in 2024.
As a result, TMTG's stock price has plummeted, losing more than 40% of its value this year.
Nevertheless, even at its current price, TMTG has a market cap of over $4 billion. It is a meme stock, deriving much of its value from the sentiment around Trump rather than economic performance.
Trump owns 53% of TPTG, so like $TRUMP, he has an incentive to use the prestige of the presidency to boost its stock price.
Like a true Strumpet, this is how Trump makes himself happy. As you say, "On a basic level, $TRUMP allows Trump to convert the power and prestige of the presidency into cash. Meme coins have no inherent value...." We know that this reckless man with his worthless value as a leader "has no inherent value"--he's a danger to our nation, and to everything he touches. Thanks Judd, hopefully your reporting spreads to all news outlets--the sooner everyone knows what Trump is doing for himself while destroying the lives of thousands of his constituents, the sooner he will be removed from power.
Along with the cruelty, the grift is the point. And after all we’ve seen, it is impossible to muster any sympathy for those Trump supporters losing money on these scams.