A new meme coin launched by President-elect Donald Trump on Friday has a market capitalization of about $9 billion—after hitting a peak of over $15 billion early Sunday—marking Trump’s latest venture into cryptocurrency and merchandise sales in the lead-up to his inauguration.
Trump declared $TRUMP as his “Official Trump Meme” coin on social media. Several other Trump-branded coins are around, but none with his endorsement.
The $TRUMP coin skyrocketed to just above $75 early Sunday but is currently above $39 amid big price swings. The market cap is now $7.9 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.com. But the fully diluted valuation is roughly $39.4 billion.
The $TRUMP website says 80% of the meme coin is held by Trump Organization affiliate CIC Digital, and a CIC co-owned entity called Fight Fight Fight.
Separately, the president-elect’s wife, Melania Trump, launched her own $MELANIA meme coin on Sunday afternoon, jumping to nearly $8 with a $7.7 billion valuation.
$TRUMP’s price appeared to plunge, at least for a short time, around the time $MELANIA launched.
