President Donald Trump’s official meme coin, TRUMP, has plummeted more than 85% from its all-time high. According to CoinGecko data, the Solana-based token is now trading at $10.50, a stark decline from its January peak of $73.43.
The fall reflects a broader downturn in financial markets, with Bitcoin and Ethereum losing over 8% in the past week.
The downturn follows President Trump’s recent interview in which he declined to rule out a possible recession. His tariff policies have raised concerns over economic instability, fueling inflation fears that have impacted financial markets. On Monday, stocks and cryptocurrencies saw heavy selloffs, intensifying volatility across asset classes.
A $350 Million Crypto Windfall
Despite the collapse in price, Trump’s memecoin project has been lucrative, according to a Financial Times analysis of blockchain data, entities connected to the project made at least $350 million in the first three weeks after the token’s launch.
The earnings raise concerns over potential conflicts of interest, with critics arguing that the token offers a way for anonymous donors to funnel money to the president. “The president of the United States should not be essentially doing things to profit from his office while in office,” said Tim Massad, former chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “It’s a terrible example.”
The project is officially endorsed by Trump but is run by Fight Fight Fight LLC, a Delaware company, alongside CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Organization. The entities collectively own 80% of TRUMP tokens.
While the project website claims that neither Trump nor his company directly distributes the token, blockchain data shows that Trump-linked wallets have engaged in strategic transactions to stabilize their prices.
Price Manipulation Allegations
At launch, Trump-affiliated accounts minted a billion TRUMP tokens and released an initial batch of 200 million. Blockchain analysis shows that 158 million tokens were placed into liquidity pools of this initial supply, allowing traders to buy the coin with USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the dollar. Trump-linked wallets later withdrew the USDC earned from these sales and reinvested $291 million into another liquidity pool—a move that helped sustain the market price.
The project’s operators have also stabilized the token’s valuation. When Melania Trump launched her own token, $MELANIA, just days after TRUMP debuted, the price of $TRUMP plunged.
In response, Trump-affiliated wallets reportedly spent $1 million buying back the token at $33.23 each, in what appears to be an attempt to defend its price.
“They wanted to protect the price,” said Nicolas Vaiman, CEO of analytics firm Bubblemaps. “It’s something that is pretty [common] in crypto as a whole: using their own treasury to defend the charts.”
Trump has actively promoted the coin, urging followers to buy in January with a post on X: “GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.”
Trump’s engagement with the crypto industry is far from over. Last Friday, he hosted a White House summit with major cryptocurrency firms and investors, further cementing his positioning as a pro-crypto president. The event drew further scrutiny over the intersection of digital assets, financial ethics, and political influence.
