Trump Issues His Own Meme Coin...Boom or Bust for the Crypto Industry? [Hwang Doo-hyun's Web3+]

Trump Issues Meme Coin 'OfficialTrump' on the 17th

Surges 40,000% in Two Days...Achieves 2nd Place in Meme Coin Market Cap

"Accelerating Popularization and Adoption" vs "Obstacle to Pro-Crypto Policies"

Image=Chip Somodevilla / Shutterstock.com

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, announced the issuance of his meme coin 'OfficialTrump(TRUMP)' on the 17th (local time), dividing opinions in the cryptocurrency industry into optimism and skepticism.

On that day, President Trump made a surprise announcement on his social media platform Truth Social, stating, "You can purchase OfficialTrump from the website starting today." Speculation arose that his social media account might have been hacked. However, since President Trump did not deny it and it was listed on the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, the price of OfficialTrump skyrocketed.

OfficialTrump soared to $77, a 43,000% increase from its initial price of $0.18, within two days of issuance. During this period, OfficialTrump's market capitalization surpassed $10 billion, reaching the second place in meme coin market cap. As of the 23rd, OfficialTrump has partially retraced its surge and is trading around $36.

The cryptocurrency industry welcomed the news. There is anticipation that the direct participation of a country's president in the cryptocurrency market will accelerate the popularization and adoption of cryptocurrencies. In fact, the spot trading volume of OfficialTrump on centralized exchanges (CEX) reached $38 billion (approximately 54 trillion KRW) as of the 22nd.

An analyst at Hashed, An Soo-bin, told BloomingBit, "President Trump's issuance of a meme coin has become an opportunity to attract new users unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies to the market," adding, "The growth of the cryptocurrency market is expected to coincide with the launch of Trump's second administration."

Jeff Dorman, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Arca, also stated, "As President Trump steps in as a cryptocurrency issuer and investor, crypto projects no longer need to fear regulation," adding, "As new use cases for blockchain become known, the cryptocurrency industry will enter an era of massive adoption."

Global investment bank Bernstein commented, "President Trump's issuance of a meme coin is a significant event that will shift the paradigm of the cryptocurrency industry," predicting that "it will demonstrate a different approach from the strict regulations of the previous administration."

On the other hand, there are critical voices. Meme coins have been criticized as mere speculative tools due to their lack of intrinsic value and extreme price volatility. Some media outlets pointed out, "Trump is pursuing personal gain by leveraging his presidency," and "The sitting president is improperly exercising his influence."

There are also concerns that OfficialTrump might become an obstacle to the 'pro-crypto policies' pursued by the Trump administration. There is a possibility that the Democratic Party will use President Trump's issuance of a meme coin as evidence of the risks of cryptocurrencies. U.S. investment bank TD Cowen analyzed, "The Democratic Party is likely to demand detailed information about OfficialTrump," adding, "This could heighten tensions between the two parties and delay the adoption of cryptocurrency legislation."

Jeong Seok-moon, head of Presto Research, also evaluated, "Investors who suffer losses from investing in OfficialTrump or illegal activities such as 'securities law violations' during the issuance process could negatively impact the Trump administration's cryptocurrency policies."

Lee Yong-jun, director at Factomind, stated, "Due to OfficialTrump, participants in the cryptocurrency market may attempt to issue tokens more boldly," adding, "However, as the issuance of tokens by celebrities increases, the number of damage cases may also rise. Consequently, additional regulations related to token issuance may be introduced."