- Trump-linked memecoins raised $350M, with $314M from sales and $36M in fees on Solana.
- TRUMP token dropped 82% from its $75 peak, with 831M tokens still valued at $10.8B.
- U.S. lawmakers propose regulations against presidential memecoins and rug pulls.
Accounts linked to Trump memecoins have allegedly generated a minimum of $314 million from token sales and $36 million from fees on the Solana blockchain. President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency initiative has reportedly brought in a minimum of $350 million in revenue from the introduction of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, based on a recent analysis by the Financial Times.
Trump’s TRUMP Memecoin and Its Market Impact
According to the FT on March 7, those engaged in managing the TRUMP meme coin have generated a minimum of $314 million through token sales and $36 million from fees on the Solana blockchain. Although Trump’s individual earnings are uncertain, the official site of the meme coin, Gettrumpmemes.com, indicates that CIC Digital, tied to The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight from Delaware jointly control 80% of the tokens.
According to the report, the Financial Times assessed earnings by monitoring the movement of tokens from their inception into official wallets and subsequently tracking their availability for sale on Solana-based trading platforms.
Trump introduced his TRUMP memecoin just days prior to his return to the White House on January 20. The launch included the creation of 1 billion TRUMP tokens, with the initial 200 million issued in the first memecoin batch and the other 800 million planned for release over the next three years.
Liquidity Pool Transactions and Token Sales Analysis
The FT report states that 158 million tokens were added to a liquidity pool, enabling traders to purchase the memecoins on the open market in return for Circle’s USDC (USDC) stablecoin. As per the FT analysis, the Trump-related accounts sold the initial 100 million Trump tokens the day following the memecoin’s debut at a price under $1.05.
The analysis indicated that after pulling out the initial USDC gained from the sale, Trump wallets later reinvested $291 million in USDC into a different liquidity pool in a clear attempt to bolster the market.
The report indicated that the scheme probably generated additional profit from various transactions,” noting that the pools transferred approximately 14.7 million Trump tokens to 10 exchanges, such as Binance, Bybit, and Coinbase.
The FT discovered that the Trump accounts invested $1 million in purchasing their own token at $33.2 on January 19 and January 20 to stabilize the price in light of the TRUMP drop after the debut of Melania Trump’s MELANIA meme coin. The value of TRUMP has since dropped 82% from its high of $75 on January 19. Nonetheless, the 831 million TRUMP tokens still possessed by accounts linked to Trump are estimated to carry a notional value of $10.8 billion, as stated in the report.
Regulatory Concerns and Legislative Responses
The TRUMP memecoin has become one of the most talked-about subjects in the crypto community lately, especially because it supposedly sparked 700 imitators and may have played a role in the Libra token controversy, endorsed by Argentine President Javier Milei.
House Democrat Representative Sam Liccardo has openly condemned the idea of presidential meme coins, suggesting a draft bill in late February to prohibit officials and their relatives from engaging in such practices. On March 5, Assembly member Clyde Vanel introduced legislation that creates criminal penalties for meme coin rug pulls to safeguard investors.
Meanwhile, financial regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission have emphasized that meme coins are not classified as securities, assigning their regulation to different authorities.