Top performers xrp (XRP) and Ethereum’s ETH saw profits take early Saturday as a Donald Trump-themed “official” memecoin attracted $3 billion in the first few hours after being issued on the Solana network, driving demand for SOL- tokens.
Price action in bitcoin (BTC) and most majors such as dogecoin (DOGE) and BNB Chain’s BNB remained muted as the TRUMP token changed sentiment for XRP and ETH. Traders perceived Trump memecoin’s choice to issue the token on Solana as bearish for Ethereum.
An “official” memecoin linked to Trump was issued in the early Asian hours on Saturday from his verified X and Truth Social accounts. Prices ran from a few cents to $14 in less than six hours amid widespread confusion over whether the token was backed by Trump, as reported.
Some fund managers consider the move to be bullish for memecoins: “The incoming president just gave everyone a license to launch a memecoin – $SOL gets the message, buckle up,” Placeholder VC partner Chris Burniske wrote on X.
Elsewhere, XRP fell as much as 5% to offset gains from a 40% rise over the past 7 days. Demand for XRP has surged since early November, when Republican Trump won the US presidential election and promised to make the country a hotbed for local crypto companies – improving sentiment for tokens linked to US companies (XRP is closely linked to New York-based Ripple Labs.
XRP broke the $3 mark for the first time since 2018 on Friday ahead of Trump’s January 20 inauguration. The speculative move came on unconfirmed reports that Trump was open to an “America-first strategic reserve that would prioritize digital coins founded in the United States, such as Solana, USD Coin and Ripple.”
Talk of any strategic reserve has so far only included plans for bitcoin holdings.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse had at least one meeting with the president-elect in early January, and encountered speculation that Ripple could potentially have a direct channel to influence the incoming administration, causing increased interest in XRP.
