Pakinomist– President Donald Trump largely dismissed questions about adding billions of dollars to his personal wealth through the launch of the $TRUMP memecoin ahead of his inauguration.
In response to questions from a reporter about the memecoin, Trump confirmed that he had launched the memecoin, but claimed not to have too much knowledge of having personally benefited from its performance.
“I don’t know about distributed, I don’t know where it is, I don’t know much about it other than I launched it, I heard it was very successful,” Trump said at a White House event on Tuesday.
Responding to a reporter who told him he had made “several billion dollars” from the memecoin, Trump said “several billion? That’s peanuts to these guys,” though it was not immediately clear who he was referring to.
launched to trader fanfare last week, coming just days before Trump’s inauguration on Monday. The token rose to a market cap of over $14 billion at its peak, giving Trump, who is a major owner, billions in paper gains.
But the memcoin swung wildly in volatile trading, raising some questions about potential price manipulation, especially amid rumors that Trump had sold some of his holdings.
$TRUMP stabilized at $41 after racing to a high of nearly $80 post-launch.
But the success of the memecoin and the subsequent, less favorably received launch of $MELANIA, fueled traders’ concerns over the ethical question of Trump using his influence to influence speculative markets in his favor.
Trump also made little mention of crypto policy in his first two days in office, dampening hopes that he would immediately hand out pro-crypto policies through presidential decrees.
— which had risen to record highs above $109,000 ahead of Trump’s inauguration — tumbled from those highs in volatile trading. Broader crypto markets also saw increased volatility following the launch of $TRUMP.
