President-elect Trump launches own cryptocurrency meme coin ahead of

President-elect Trump took the $3.5 trillion cryptocurrency industry by surprise Friday night, announcing the launch of his own crypto token called $TRUMP coin.

The launch is on its way to becoming one of the most successful in history. 

In less than 24 hours, $TRUMP’s value rose from just a few cents to $33.87, representing a staggering price gain of over 18,000%. The token price has since come down to around $26 with a market cap of over $5 billion, putting it in the top 30 biggest cryptocurrencies in the world.

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The announcement comes just days before Trump’s inauguration on Monday. Trump personally announced the unveiling of the coin via his Truth Social and X accounts at 9:45 p.m. ET Friday, while industry bigwigs were celebrating his return to office at the inaugural Crypto Ball in Washington, D.C.

Trump is promising to be the most crypto-friendly president in history and has vowed to reverse the Biden administration’s regulatory crackdown on the sector, which has resulted in many U.S. companies moving operations offshore. 

Ball attendees included CEOs of various crypto platforms, politicians, a handful of Trump’s new Cabinet members and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

President-elect Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange Dec. 12, 2024, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images / Getty Images)

When the news broke, many attendees were skeptical, speculating that the president-elect’s accounts had been hacked. Donald Trump, Jr., who presumably knew about the announcement, was cordoned off in an exclusive VIP section. It’s unclear whether he spoke to anyone there about the token launch.

“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community,” the post said, adding a link to a website where visitors can buy the token using a debit card or with crypto.

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Trump has not commented on the coin since the original announcement. His son, Eric Trump, posted on X Saturday afternoon that the coin is the “hottest digital meme on earth.” The president-elect’s X account reposted his son’s comments.

Two spokespeople for the Trump transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

The coin, which goes by the trading ticker TRUMP, is known as a “meme coin,” a highly speculative kind of cryptocurrency that has no inherent utility and is often created based on a joke or parody, like $PEPE, a meme of a picture of a cartoon frog that has a market cap of over $7 billion.

Sophisticated investors are often wary of meme coins, not just because of their wild price swings, but their propensity for being…