Why the TRUMP launch wasn’t a ‘mass onboarding event’

Trump’s coin may have led to new wallets, but it hasn’t yet brought onchain adoption

article-image

Anna Moneymaker/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share


This is a segment from the Empire newsletter. To read full editions, subscribe.


The truth is in the data. That’s kind of our motto if you ask me. And the data around the Trump coin is very telling.

Last week, Chainalysis released some data on the Trump coin launch, breaking down who owns it and where they’ve come from. The most obvious datapoint is that the majority of holders have less than $100 worth, suggesting that it’s heavily owned by retail. 

Source: Chainalysis

According to Chainalysis, a survey of the wallet age shows that a lot of these retail buyers are new to crypto. In the chart below, you can see that the majority have just opened the wallets, compared to the 16% of holders who’ve had the wallet for at least a year.

But the real question, as posed by Dragonfly’s Rob Hadick, is are these new wallet holders going to actually become active participants in the overall ecosystem?

“A lot of people took [the Chainalysis] report to suggest that the TRUMP token was a mass onboarding event, primarily because 50% of TRUMP/MELANIA token holder wallets were net new to SOL altcoins,” he said. 

“But that continues to make the same wallet/user fallacies and misses the distinction between interest in TRUMP vs onchain users that are value additive and contribute capital to the broader ecosystem.”

Loading Tweet..

The caveat here, he added, is that people outside of crypto have been asking about the space. And, personally, I can attest to that as well. But I think it’s fair to say that attention and action are two very different things, and so far we’re not seeing this lead to mass adoption. 

Honestly, perhaps that’s too much to ask. For now, we may have to settle with piquing people’s interest. Adoption can come with use cases. 

Or so I hope.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Aave’s revenues have doubled from April lows and are fast approaching all-time highs. With 35% of borrow interest coming from ETH and 55% from stablecoins, Aave is emerging as a powerful proxy as an ETH and stablecoin beta. As looping strategies accelerate growth and Horizon positions the protocol to ride the RWA wave, Aave is shaping up as one of DeFi’s most compelling multi-narrative plays.

article-image

New derivatives product links leading tech equities with crypto, debuting on Sept. 22

by Blockworks /
article-image

Solana’s Alpenglow has passed, targeting ~150ms finality

by Carlos /
article-image

Everyone knows that crypto is psychological torture

article-image

Governance vote clears SIMD-0326, shifting Solana to a new consensus model

by Blockworks /
article-image

Company boosts ETH holdings by $177 million through capital markets strategy

by Blockworks /