SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s newly minted cryptocurrency jumped to $9 billion in market value on Monday, attracting billions in trading volume just hours before the US president-elect’s return to the White House.
The meme coin, also known as $TRUMP, surged 73% to $46.06 during Asian hours on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of about $9.2 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Its 24-hour trading volume reached $42.2 billion.
On Friday, Trump launched a digital token marked with an image from his July assassination attempt, expanding his cryptocurrency interests that already include World Liberty Financial.
Even participants in the cryptocurrency community were surprised by the launch of the Trump meme coin.
“While it’s tempting to dismiss this as just another Trump spectacle, the launch of an official Trump token opens a Pandora’s (OTC:) box of ethical and regulatory issues,” said Justin D’Anethan, an independent crypto analyst based in Hong Kong.
While the coin represented the merging of the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) into the political arena, it also “blurs the lines between governance, profit and influence,” D’Anethan said.
“Should public figures, especially those with that kind of political influence, have that kind of influence in speculative markets? That’s a question that regulators are unlikely to ignore,” he said.
Peter Schiff, chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, pointed to $TRUMP’s surge in value and called it the new digital gold on messaging platform X.
Trump has promised to be the “crypto president,” and is expected to issue executive orders aimed at reducing crypto regulatory roadblocks and promoting widespread adoption of digital assets.
He is scheduled to take over the presidency on Monday at noon ET (17:00 GMT).
The prospect of looser regulations around crypto policy was met with fanfare in the industry and fueled bitcoin’s rally after Trump’s election victory in November.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 2.6% lower at $101,826.51 on Monday, and is up more than 10% so far this month.
