Trump’s meme coin soars, surpassing competitors.

Reuters, Paris/Singapore, January 20 The market value of U.S. President Donald Trump’s new cryptocurrency token surged to over $10 billion on Monday, as excitement about his administration’s pro-crypto stance briefly caused bitcoin to reach a new high.

Trump’s so-called “memecoin” was launched on Friday night and rose from less than $10 on Saturday morning to as high as $74.59 before losing some of its gains on Monday. According to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinGecko, the token, which goes by the name $TRUMP and has drawn criticism from ethical experts, was last trading at $33.88, as of this writing.

A different cryptocurrency project associated with Trump, World Liberty Financial, also declared on Monday that it had raised $300 million from its first token sale and would consider issuing more.

In sharp contrast to the regulatory scrutiny the business saw under former President Joe Biden, Trump’s growth of his cryptocurrency interests coincides with the widespread expectation that his administration will usher in a “golden age” for cryptocurrencies.

On the day after Trump was inaugurated in as the 47th President of the United States, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency in the world, reached a new high of $109,071. However, it rapidly retreated these gains and was last trading at $101,867.40.

According to a statement from Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at Conotoxia Ltd., “the launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA cryptocurrencies just before the inauguration gained additional popularity in recent hours.”

The Solana blockchain was used to produce the Trump and Melania cryptocurrencies, the latter of which was introduced on Sunday.

Over the weekend, Solana’s coin’s value increased as well, reaching an all-time high of $294.33 on Sunday.

Crypto investors had been expecting some executive measures to be rolled out on Trump’s first day in office, according to Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at crypto asset manager Astronaut Capital. “I think in the short term there’s a chance this could be a sell-the-news event,” he added.

Bitcoin has already pulled back. Here, we anticipate more volatility and probably a selloff.

Trump’s cryptocurrency token began trading below $10 on Friday but surged rapidly, reaching a high of $72.62 on Sunday. Later in the day on Monday, it was trading in the $30 region after dropping from $52.15 earlier in the day.

According to its website, CIC Digital, an offshoot of Trump’s company, and another organization named Fight, Fight, Fight possess 80% of the tokens of Trump Coin.

According to the statement, the coins are not securities or investments, but rather “an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP'”.

Concerns over ethics and conflicts of interest were raised by World Liberty Financial’s establishment barely two months prior to the US election in November. Even some in the cryptocurrency business were alarmed by Trump’s “memecoin” launch on Friday night. Numerous influential members of Trump’s administration and inner circle have connections to the cryptocurrency sector.

The introduction of the official Trump coin raises a number of moral and legal issues, despite the temptation to write this off as another Trump show, according to Hong Kong-based independent crypto analyst Justin D’Anethan.

The Trump Organization announced last month that when the president took office, he would give his kids daily control over his multibillion-dollar portfolio of real estate, hotels, golf, media, and licenses. Forbes estimates that Trump has a net worth of $6.7 billion, excluding his cryptocurrency endeavors.