The crypto market is facing significant turbulence

The crypto market has recently experienced a tremendous upheaval. Just before taking office, President-elect Trump unexpectedly announced the launch of his personal Meme coin, TRUMP. This move sets a precedent for national leaders issuing personal digital currencies and marks a historically significant milestone for the encryption world.

Once this news was released, TRUMP coin quickly became a market hotspot. The coin's intraday increase once reached 1250%, with a peak price touching 80 dollars, and its market capitalization surpassed 20 billion dollars on the first day, setting a new record for the growth rate of cryptocurrency market capitalization. The surge of TRUMP brought considerable profits to participants, but it also sparked intense discussions worldwide.

It is worth noting that Melania Trump, the First Lady, followed closely behind by launching a MEME token named after herself. This behavior of the "presidential couple" has raised questions about their motives, seemingly suggesting a tendency to exploit their power for personal gain.

When Trump announced the launch of the TRUMP token on social media, the accompanying image showed his iconic fist raised pose. Due to multiple incidents of celebrity accounts being hacked in the crypto market, along with the fact that the president personally issued the token, the market was initially skeptical about the news. However, despite the doubts, the token still saw rapid growth, with its market value soaring to $2 billion in just half an hour. Notably, the top 10 wallet addresses control approximately 89.61% of the tokens, with the largest holder accounting for 80% of the share.

When Trump confirmed the news on another social platform, market sentiment surged instantly. The price of TRUMP coin skyrocketed, rising from $20 to $74, an increase of over 400 times, with its market capitalization soaring from $2 billion to $15.2 billion, setting one of the fastest market cap growth records. Currently, the crazy surge of TRUMP coin has somewhat eased, with the price falling back to $48.65.

The TRUMP token is issued on the Solana blockchain, officially described as a tribute to Trump's survival after being shot on July 13, 2024, and raising his fist shouting the slogan "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT". To expand its audience and lower investment barriers, the TRUMP token supports multiple payment methods, including traditional payments and encryption payments.

In terms of token allocation, the total supply of TRUMP is 1 billion tokens, with an initial circulation of 200 million tokens. The remaining 800 million tokens are planned to be unlocked linearly over 3 years. Notably, two subsidiaries of the Trump Group, CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, will receive 80% of the TRUMP tokens, with a lock-up period of 3 to 12 months, and will be gradually unlocked over the next 24 months.

The official statement of the project emphasizes that this token is intended to express support for the "TRUMP" symbol and its related ideals, rather than serving as an investment tool or security. They also specifically state that the project is not related to politics and does not involve any political campaigns or government agencies.

For the crypto market, this is a significant event following the indirect involvement of the presidential family in DeFi projects, with the president directly issuing tokens in his personal capacity, which has far-reaching implications. This move may trigger similar actions in other countries and regions, opening up new channels for political donations and personal profits. At the same time, it highlights Trump's recognition of cryptocurrency, suggesting that the crypto market may welcome new development opportunities during his next term.

The surge of TRUMP tokens has brought a significant wealth effect to the market. According to statistics, multiple large holders have made profits exceeding ten million dollars, with more than 10 well-known influencers earning over one million dollars per coin. One address had already received funds 4 hours before the token was released and purchased one million dollars worth in the first minute, with a peak floating profit of over one hundred million dollars.

This event not only affected the TRUMP token itself but also drove the rise of other major cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin rose from $97,000 to $105,000, while Solana became the biggest winner, with a 24-hour increase of up to 23.02%, reaching a high of over $270.

Trump himself has also benefited immensely. In just one night, his net worth skyrocketed to $28 billion. At the current price of $48 per coin, the value of the encryption he holds has reached $38.4 billion. In contrast, Forbes valued his net worth at only $5.6 billion last November, meaning his net worth has increased 7.8 times.

However, the behavior of the president using personal influence to issue tokens for profit has also sparked widespread controversy. Representatives from the American non-profit organization "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington" directly pointed out that Trump's actions violate tradition, believing that this is an act of using the presidential position for personal gain.

There are also differences of opinion within the encryption field regarding this. Some industry insiders believe this is a predatory behavior that could cause losses for many people. Even supporters of Trump have stated that this kind of behavior is detrimental to the industry's development.

In fact, Trump has always been good at leveraging his personal influence for business operations, from universities and hotels named after himself, to issuing NFTs, and now releasing MEME tokens, which reflects his consistent practice of converting political influence into commercial benefits.

It is worth mentioning that the Trump family's encryption project World Liberty Financial also announced this morning that 20 billion WLFI tokens have been sold out, with a total value of 300 million dollars calculated at a unit price of 0.015 dollars. The project then stated that it will reopen 5% of the token sales.

Melania Trump has also joined the digital currency craze by launching her own MELANIA token. The price of the token skyrocketed from $0.4 to a peak of $18, reaching a market cap of $18.2 billion, but then fell back to $7.2 billion. In terms of token distribution, the MELANIA team holds 35%, and the unlocking plan is relatively aggressive.

The market is not indifferent to this series of operations. After Melania launched the token, a large number of sell orders for TRUMP coin appeared, causing its market value to evaporate by $7.5 billion in just 10 minutes. This chain reaction also affected other altcoins, triggering a widespread decline.

Although the actions of the Trump couple have sparked ethical controversies, from the perspective of existing laws, the U.S. Constitution does not seem to explicitly restrict the president from using personal influence to gain benefits, especially in the crypto market where regulation is still unclear.

From the perspective of the crypto market, it is no longer a novelty for celebrities to issue MEME tokens, but most of these projects ultimately struggle to avoid failure. However, considering Trump's unique identity and influence, he may strive to maintain the long-term value of the token in order to uphold his reputation and public support.

In any case, this event has undoubtedly brought political MEME to the forefront. It is foreseeable that in the future, there may be more political participants and even leaders from other regions imitating the issuance of MEME tokens, and the narrative of "political financialization" (Politifi) may also usher in a new peak. As Trump's inauguration speech approaches, the market's speculative enthusiasm and fervor may heat up again.

However, whether this is a new round of wealth opportunity or a huge risk trap remains to be verified by time.