Vicky Ge Huang
Appearances
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
To a lot of people, it signals that the next four year is going to be quite tumultuous, that it might not be the golden age for digital assets or crypto renaissance that a lot of people in industry had expected the next four years to be, that it might be a lot of ups and downs and a lot of unexpected events. the crypto industry could be in for a lot more surprises.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
So at 9 p.m., President Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he was launching a cryptocurrency.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Who was there? Everyone. A lot of the most high-profile people in crypto were there, such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, the co-founders of crypto exchange Gemini, the Winklevoss brothers, and some of the most high-profile political figures.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
A meme coin is a type of cryptocurrency that essentially built to generate a few laughs. It's usually based on a meme, such as a phrase, an image.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
There have been millions of meme coins created.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
And that's no surprise because the first and most successful meme coin is Dogecoin, a Shiba Inu-themed cryptocurrency that was started out as a joke, but took off after it received a lot of endorsement from the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
So as a result, you have Shiba Inu coin, you have baby Dogecoin, you have dog with hat coin, which is based on meme of a Doge wearing a pink beanie.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
How do you make one of these coins? They have become extremely easy to create. Say if you want to create a meme coin, you can go onto one of these platforms, websites, and you click a button and they ask you to put in the names, the ticker, some other basic information, and then you pay a fee and then your meme coin is created within minutes.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
So the night of the crypto ball, Trump launched a meme coin that trades under the ticker Trump. And the meme itself is a picture of President Trump with his fist in the air with the words fight, fight, fight in the background.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
A lot of traders rush into the Trump coin because they see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make money. And a lot of them did. If we look at social media, a lot of traders who put in money even on Saturday, hours after Trump launched the token and sold on Sunday, they've been able to make a really quick, big gain within just a few hours.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
So the hot take is that for President Trump, this means that he's now one of the biggest crypto billionaires.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
The organizations behind the coins are CIC Digital, which is an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, which is co-owned by CIC Digital.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
On Sunday afternoon, the first lady launched her own cryptocurrency, her own meme coin.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
And the meme of her is a picture of her smiling while clasping her hand in a prayer position. Menania's token soon soared in value as well. However, this caused a crash of almost 50% in the Trump token.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Yes, the launch of her coin caused his coin to crash. Why? Is that because they like Melania more? I don't think so. I think they like any new opportunity to make money on the newest, hottest thing.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Traders basically had to sell the Trump tokens in order to buy the newest coin because they see this upside of making profits.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
They were celebrating the inauguration of President Trump. But beyond that, it was more about how President Trump has become the crypto industry's biggest cheerleader.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Trump hasn't responded to these concerns, and the Trump Organization hasn't responded or made any statements.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Ever since the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX, the industry's reputation has been tarnished. It has been seen as this industry that's rife with fraud and scams and all kinds of scandals. However, especially over the past year, the industry has really been working hard to rebuild its image. And it has made a lot of progress on that front.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
They feel like they have finally arrived at this moment where crypto could be taken seriously. And then you have the soon-to-be president of the United States launching a cryptocurrency that's known for its speculative nature, extreme volatility and high risks. It's kind of... like proving to the world that crypto is speculation. Crypto is nothing more than speculation.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
A lot of critics of the coins think that the tokens have characteristics of a rug pull. So one characteristic that worries a lot of crypto watchers is that the Trump tokens, 80% of it, are controlled by insiders, the organizations related to the Trump Organization.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Heavy insider ownership is a red flag because it means that the insiders will be able to sell lots of tokens and crash or collapse the price of the token in a very quick period of time.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
The one stipulation on the website associated with the Trump coin is that in total there are 1 billion Trump coins in existence. But only 200 million have been released since the token launched on Friday. And the rest of it, the 800 million tokens, will be released over three years. So Trump can't just sell all the tokens immediately.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Yes, that's a sign that it might not be a rug pull.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
It reflects this tension between two sides of crypto. On one side, there are these serious builders, executives, and investors who ardently hope that crypto will be seen as a real investment. important industry that's driving innovation in America. On the other side, there are these fast money traders. They want numbers to go up and tokens to trade based on speculation, hype, and excitement.
The Journal.
Love Trump? Now You Can Buy His Meme Coin.
Yes, that's a really good way to sum it up. Which side is Trump on? Trump is kind of in the middle of it all. On the one hand, he's courted the money and votes of deep-pocketed crypto investors and executives. On the other hand, he's beloved by these crypto traders who are overjoyed about his pledges to make US the crypto capital of the planet that has caused token prices to skyrocket.