US President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency project has generated at least $350 million in revenue from the launch of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, according to an analysis by the Financial Times.
Entities involved in operating the TRUMP memecoin have earned at least $314 million from token sales and $36 million from fees on the Solana blockchain, the FT reported on March 7.
While Trump’s personal profit remains unclear, the memecoin’s official website, Gettrumpmemes.com, states that The Trump Organization-affiliated CIC Digital and Delaware-based Fight Fight Fight collectively own 80% of the tokens.
FT’s methodology for calculating TRUMP earnings. Source: FT
The Financial Times calculated earnings by tracking the flow of tokens from their creation into official wallets and then following their placement for sale on Solana-based trading platforms, according to the report.
How many Trump memecoins are there?
Trump launched his TRUMP memecoin days before his White House return on Jan. 20.
The launch involved minting 1 billion TRUMP tokens, with the first 200 million released in the first memecoin batch and the remaining 800 million set to be released over the next three years.
Allocation and minting roadmap of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin. Source: Gettrumpmemes.com
According to the FT report, 158 million tokens were deposited into a liquidity pool, which allowed traders to buy the memecoins on the open market in exchange for Circle’s USDC (USDC) stablecoin.
Sales and buys point to alleged price manipulation
According to the FT analysis, the Trump-linked accounts sold the first 100 million Trump tokens the day after the memecoin’s launch at a price below $1.05.
The analysis suggested that after withdrawing the first USDC earned from the sale, Trump wallets subsequently placed $291 million in USDC back into another liquidity pool in an apparent effort to support the market.
“The scheme is likely to have made more money from other transactions,” the report said, adding that the pools also sent about 14.7 million Trump tokens to 10 exchanges, including Binance, Bybit and Coinbase.
Half of the initial distribution of TRUMP was sold for less than $1.05 each. Source: FT
The FT also found that the Trump accounts spent $1 million on buying their own tokens at $33.20 on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20 to stabilize the price amid the TRUMP decline following the launch of Melania Trump’s MELANIA memecoin.
Related: Memecoins are likely dead for now, but they’ll be back: CoinGecko
The price of TRUMP has plummeted 82% from its peak of $75 on Jan. 19. Despite this, the 831 million TRUMP tokens still held by Trump-affiliated accounts are estimated to have a notional value of $10.8 billion, according to the report.
A Trump account intervened in the market after the MELANIA memecoin launch. Source: FT
Potential action against presidential memecoins
The TRUMP memecoin has emerged as one of the most discussed topics in the crypto community, particularly due to it allegedly triggering 700 copycats and potentially contributing to the Libra token scandal, promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei.
House Democrat Representative Sam Liccardo has publicly criticized the concept of presidential memecoins, proposing draft legislation in late February to ban officials and their families from such activity.
On March 5, New York state Assembly member Clyde Vanel introduced a bill establishing criminal penalties for memecoin rug pulls in an effort to protect investors.
In the meantime, financial regulators including the US Securities and Exchange Commission have reiterated that memecoins don’t fall under securities laws, directing their regulation to other authorities.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
