SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s newly minted cryptocurrency soared to a top $9 billion in market capitalization on Monday, pulling in billions in trading volume just hours before the U.S. 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.
Trump had on Friday launched the digital token branded with an image from his assassination attempt in July, expanding his cryptocurrency interests that already include World Liberty Financial.
Even participants in the cryptocurrency community were surprised by the launch of Trump’s meme coin.
“While it’s tempting to dismiss this as just another Trump play, the launch of the official Trump token opens up a Pandora’s (OTC:) box of ethical and regulatory issues,” said Justin D’Anethan, an independent cryptanalyst based in Hong Kong.
While the coin represented a mix of the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) in the political arena, it “also exhibits the boundaries between governance, profit and influence,” D’Anethan said.
“Should public figures, especially those with such political clout, exercise this kind of influence on speculative markets? That’s a question regulators are unlikely to ignore,” he said.
Peter Schiff, chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, pointed to the jump in $TRUMP’s value, calling it the new digital gold on messaging platform X.
Trump has promised to be a “crypto president” and is expected to issue executive orders aimed at reducing regulatory roadblocks for crypto and promoting widespread adoption of digital assets.
He will take over the presidency at 12:00 PM ET (1700 GMT) on Monday.
The prospect of looser regulations around crypto policy has been met with fanfare by the industry and had turbocharged a rally in bitcoin following 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% for the month so far.
