TRUMP token slides ahead of massive unlock
Tokens worth 20% of the current supply of the TRUMP memecoin launched by the president are set to be unlocked tomorrow
Joey Sussman/Shutterstock and Adobe modified by Blockworks
This is a segment from the Lightspeed newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.
It’s a good old Trump and dump.
Tokens worth 20% of the current supply of the TRUMP memecoin launched by Donald Trump are set to be unlocked tomorrow, according to data from Tokenomist. Fears surrounding the token’s supply increase caused the token to drop 2.7% this week.
That happened as memecoins generally roared to life: Out of the 10 largest memecoins by market capitalization, TRUMP is the only one that is down on the week, according to CoinGecko.
Tomorrow, 40 million TRUMP — worth around $300 million on extremely flimsy paper — will be made available to the token’s creators, as well as CIC DIGITAL, a Trump-owned entity that was involved with the president’s NFT collection.
There’s not yet any indication as to whether the president’s team plans to sell the tokens on the open market or hold onto them for longer. Trump hasn’t inspired much confidence in his personal interest in the memecoin, in any event.
Since TRUMP’s launch, the president wrote about it online just once, calling it “SO COOL!!!” in a Truth Social post. When asked about the token by a reporter a few days after its January launch, Trump said, “I don’t know much about it other than I launched it, other than it was very successful.” An X account linked to the token’s website is barely active.
Despite everything, there still are some folks holding TRUMP. The token has over $1.5 billion in market capitalization — more than TIA, ARB and JUP. I asked my X followers if they were still holding TRUMP, and why.
“I went all in on it, hoping it will reach an all time high, but slowly I am losing my hopes day by day,” one anonymous account wrote.
Another self-identified US Army and crypto veteran likened TRUMP to a collectible and said they hold some in their IRA (which I didn’t know was possible — the wonders of technology!).
One case people made for TRUMP was that the token could trade as a kind of sentiment check on Trump’s presidency. That really hasn’t been the case: The token’s largest single-day pump came on Valentine’s Day, which was the day Argentine President Javier Milei launched the ill-fated LIBRA token.
So the best investment thesis for Trump’s memecoin, as far as I can tell, is that someday he might post about it on Truth Social again. Construct your retirement accounts accordingly.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- The Breakdown: Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily.
- Empire: Crypto news and analysis to start your day.
- Forward Guidance: The intersection of crypto, macro and policy.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox.
- Lightspeed: All things Solana.
- The Drop: Apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Bitcoin, bitcoin, bitcoin.
