Trump Launches Memecoin Before Inauguration

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday evening announced on social media the launch of his “official” meme token, a solana-based asset whose price jumped to $26 per token within a day, giving it a market value of $5 billion on paper.

The token, called $TRUMP, is intended to be an expression of support for Trump and not an investment opportunity, contract or security, its website says. It has no relations to any political campaign or office or governmental agency, it adds. The majority of the token supply is owned by affiliates of the Trump Organization.

Trump and his children earlier were involved with the launch of World Liberty Financial, another crypto project. His rising business interests in crypto could raise ethics concerns, such as whether businesses could influence him by buying his tokens.