All the president's memecoins

Technology / analysis

The extraordinary tale of an incoming US president creating a memecoin, and people taking it seriously

21st Jan 25, 11:51am by Juha Saarinen

Ahead of the United States presidential inauguration, the Trumps decided to launch so-called memecoins. They’re eponymous, called $TRUMP and $MELANIA.

What are memecoins, you ask? It’s actually quite hard to explain to anyone looking for a rational reason for their existence. If you think of memecoins as fully speculative crypto currency tokens without any intrinsic value, often created as stupid Internet jokes, and which are completely unsafe to dabble in, you’d be on the right track.

There are heaps of memecoins, many of which have gone boom to bust and seen their operators “rug pull”. No particular technical ability is required, since you can use memecoin generation sites for a fee.

The entire phenomenon is well-publicised, nothing new, warnings abound yet people still pile in on memecoins.

As of writing, on Binance-owned CoinMarketCap, one $TRUMP unit can be exchanged for US$39.19. That rate is ticking downwards by the minute, with the high yesterday being US$75.45. Some say this is because of $MELANIA which was launched after $TRUMP.

The $MELANIA memecoin exchange rate is US$5.29, down 61.17 per cent from Monday’s high. Don’t take any of those figures at face value, ditto the claims of billions of dollars in “market capitalisation” because it’s all speculation and misleading metrics.

Oh, and outright fraud like “wash trading” between operator controlled accounts that makes some cryptocurrencies seem more popular than they are.

There are recurring stories these days about crypto currency exchanges getting hacked or otherwise emptied; millions of dollars, billions even, supposedly go missing, yet the financial system doesn’t keel over and sink. How is that possible?

It’s not. Long story short, memecoins have not magically created billions of dollars in value.

Read Molly White’s excellent and detailed explanation on fundamentally flawed crypto valuations, which is why “crypto billionaires” aren’t that.

Which is not to say that what is happening isn’t completely extraordinary. That the incoming United States president is doing this is like an episode of the dystopian TV series Black Mirror in real life, one that few if any could imagine.

We should not legitimise it. As White says: “more than anything, journalists should question everything in an industry where there is always an incentive to promote, inflate, and exaggerate.”

It’s going to be a very long four years, and the circus has only just started.

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56 Comments

by Whatwillhappen | 21st Jan 25, 12:10pm 1737414619

They're not stupid - you buy in, you have to hold for 30 days or something. So I predict most will lose most of what they put into these within 30 days.

by Nifty1 | 21st Jan 25, 12:28pm 1737415692

Hold for 30 days? Alot of these meme coins go to zero in 24 hours...

by LeeC | 21st Jan 25, 12:35pm 1737416117

You can buy and sell as you please. The token unlock for trump is after 3 months

by Whatwillhappen | 21st Jan 25, 12:13pm 1737414821

by Eschaton | 21st Jan 25, 12:30pm 1737415849

Bitcoin only, only Bitcoin.

by LASSET | 21st Jan 25, 12:31pm 1737415889

Thanks for linking that article from Molly White. Very well written summary and explanation on valuations.

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 1:10pm 1737418250

Thanks for linking that article from Molly White.

Molly is intelligent and passionate, as well as being a good writer. But her knowledge and understanding can be quite poor. Her biases pepper her well-sounding and well-intentioned articles and polemics.

For ex, one of her themes is that 'crypto is valued in dollars'. This is not necessarily true and depends on the person. For example, platforms like TradingView show numerous crosses such as BTC/ETH for the obvious reasons. Many OGs will already instinctively have mental price anchors to BTC. I know that I do. Because if you're a long-term holder of BTC with exposure to sh*tcoins, then it makes complete sense to have the right valuation framework for understanding. For similar reasons, people might look at the SPX performance since 2000 in gold terms, not just USD terms.

by Juha Saarinen | 21st Jan 25, 1:51pm 1737420680

That "theme" as you call it, is covered by Molly White.

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 2:32pm 1737423129

Which is why I used it as an example. Molly has been torn to shreds on multiple occasions. Most recently by Nic Carter.

by Yvil | 21st Jan 25, 3:38pm 1737427086

Thanks for linking that article from Molly White. Very well written summary and explanation on valuations.

by Toye | 21st Jan 25, 12:32pm 1737415973

A brand new Tulip!

by Gummy Bear Hero | 21st Jan 25, 12:41pm 1737416461

... if my portfolio of NFT's are still worth something , I'll cash in my chips and buy some $Trumpets ...

by LeeC | 21st Jan 25, 12:33pm 1737416028

There’s never a positive crypto article written.

The solana blockchain was just stress tested to 8 million requests per minute

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 12:59pm 1737417572

The solana blockchain was just stress tested to 8 million requests per minute

Solana often failed in the last 24 hours.

by General Comment | 21st Jan 25, 1:48pm 1737420492

But what was the completed transaction rate? Sending 8M requests/min is much easier than completing them.

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 2:05pm 1737421508

Here is some data fro you JC..(alas XRP not mentioned)

Solana broke all previous blockchain records over the weekend.

It achieved nearly $30 billion in DEX volumes and a weekly total of $89 billion.

This represents a 60-fold increase compared to volumes during the bear market.

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 3:27pm 1737426427

OK. You understand the trade offs, right? I have nothing against SOL and what it's attempting to do, but I'm also realistic and don't get married to this stuff. In some ways, that's why I find the recent rise of XRP quite fascinating as it was written off as dead and buried, and not just because of the Biden admin and its puppets trying to crush it.

As for SOL as a speculative instrument, it's been superb. No doubt about that. That it was promoted by SBF and FTX spooked me somewhat as I feared it could be a nefarious scam in some respects. And all power to those who have made out like bandits on it.

by redheadonist | 23rd Jan 25, 9:21pm 1737620504

Wow, that is a lot of wash-trading

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 1:21pm 1737418879

If everything is now legal, many startups will try raising funds by issuing tokens as explicit cryptoequity.

As context, the SEC distorted the market for the last decade by forcing founders to obscure the obvious analogy between tokens and equity. But there is nothing *morally* wrong with moving equity from spreadsheets and NASDAQs to blockchains.

Indeed, from a *technical* perspective it’s far better to represent equities onchain. You can hold them in a wallet, price them with an API call, and track them on an explorer. You can also easily issue dividends, execute buybacks, and manage vesting schedules.

And from a *financial* perspective, there is no contest between the global market of crypto investors and the local market of any given city.

But that shouldn’t mean short-term behavior. Founders can (and should) implement lockups, drag along, cosale rights, and the like. All these conventions align long-term interests of investors and founders.

You could get there by using AI to translate a typical Series A package into a set of smart contracts. And exchanges should step up to help retail by clearly identifying assets that implement long-term, value-aligning lockups.

At least, that’s the responsible game plan for using new technology to fund actual companies. I hope we use our powers responsibly, and will fund projects in this space as we gain more legal clarity.

But we may *finally* enter the long-overdue age of the cryptoequity. And a risk-tolerant community will surge into that space to explore what’s possible. This is one of the downsides of regulating by enforcement. All the SEC did was shoot at good people rather than make good rules. Perhaps the moment was simply beyond their capabilities, and the regulation will de facto fall to the crypto exchanges. In other words: we don’t yet have rule-of-law. All we have is rule-of-code. And that may be how it lands up.

- Balaji S. Srinivasan, prominent American entrepreneur, angel investor, and technology executive, particularly recognized for his significant contributions to the fields of cryptocurrency and genomics.

by buyandhodl | 21st Jan 25, 1:09pm 1737418182

Yeah. I mean if cryptoequity has to abide by all the rules, regulations, disclosures etc... that regular equity does then great. Appears to me however that too often projects are funded through this channel specifically to avoid these things.

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 1:23pm 1737418996

As Balaji said, there is no regulatory framework. We're still in the discovery phase. That is why we're still early.

by Yvil | 21st Jan 25, 3:39pm 1737427199

We're still in the unregulated "ripoff" phase

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 4:09pm 1737428984

We're still in the unregulated "ripoff" phase

Not sure you understand Dr Y. The Bidean admin through the SEC has a pretty limited track record against "ripoffs". Their main focus has been on projects that have legitimacy in terms of innovation. Such as the case against Ripple.

Just because you don't understand something doesn't make it a ripoff.

by Yvil | 21st Jan 25, 7:48pm 1737442127

"Just because you don't understand something doesn't make it a ripoff."

Very true ! But having an asset class (crypto) which is unregulated and very easy to rip off other people (read the linked article) DOES make it a rip off.

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 8:18pm 1737443891

Very true ! But having an asset class (crypto) which is unregulated and very easy to rip off other people (read the linked article) DOES make it a rip off.

So concentrate on what is being said by the likes of Balaji instead of going off on your own tangent.

by K.W. | 21st Jan 25, 1:01pm 1737417687

They're just a bit of fun. Nobody takes them seriously. Its like trading beany babies. Or Harry Potter stamps. Or a Youtooz.

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 1:56pm 1737420994

Or betting on a grey hound..

by Kate | 21st Jan 25, 1:30pm 1737419425

It’s going to be a very long four years, and the circus has only just started.

More peddlers than a cycling marathon.

by rastus1 | 21st Jan 25, 2:01pm 1737421306

They can't see it. These con coins include BTC. They are all the same thing.

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 2:06pm 1737421587

Of course they are as you are an expert in the field?

by rastus1 | 21st Jan 25, 3:46pm 1737427563

An expert in nothing which makes me qualified.

Melania knows, A hooker, perfect ambassador for the fantasy,

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 4:30pm 1737430243

I rest my case your honour..

by ChrisOfNoFame | 21st Jan 25, 4:29pm 1737430167

"They are all the same thing."

No, they are NOT.

Some, like Bitcoin, are rare & limited, hard to cheat with, but devour electricity and are destroying our environment. It's based on a concept called "proof of work", i.e. huge quantities of electricity have been consumed to create each coin and/or check if it is valid.

Others use a "proof of stake" concept. This uses far, far less electricity. And is where I believe the future will be. But, there's a lot of work required to make "proof of stake" rock solid (albeit salesmen for such coins will disagree with me.)

And then there's junk ... Like the $Trump and $Meliania stuff ... that'll be worthless in no time.

by Escander | 23rd Jan 25, 3:09pm 1737598141

Disagree with the destroying our environment bit, also most 'proof of stake' options are centrally controlled and/or have a major holder who can force changes, so the decentralised bit is just as important as the fixed supply.

by Zwifter | 21st Jan 25, 2:12pm 1737421970

This is really symbolic for everything wrong in the world today.

by Gracey | 21st Jan 25, 2:45pm 1737423919

It really, really is. Sigh.

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 3:25pm 1737426331

So is going into your average TAB in the middle of the day..

by loveyourwork | 21st Jan 25, 2:18pm 1737422337

Just another form of gambling really.

I made a 30% return on TRUMP and then lost 10% chasing more.

I did so on the understanding I could lose all but I have a chunk in crypto for play.

by The_Golem | 21st Jan 25, 3:10pm 1737425422

Well, this seems to be genuinely insane.

But it's cryptocurrency, the perfect medium for insanity.

by Eschaton | 21st Jan 25, 3:38pm 1737427100

The fiat monetary system curently in place is insanity.

by Yvil | 21st Jan 25, 3:42pm 1737427333

FIAT is certainly not perfect, but it is regulated, recognised worldwide, supported by governments, and it allows you to buy food and shelter readily, everywhere.

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 4:33pm 1737430418

Just spend it quickly on a hard asset or consumption before in inflates away to zip...

by the Joneses | 21st Jan 25, 5:37pm 1737434276

Which Trump meme coin would you suggest for someone to save their life savings?

by Zwifter | 21st Jan 25, 4:44pm 1737431057

Its only insanity if you don't have enough of it to buy what you want. Fiat seems to be working pretty well for me.

by Baywatch | 21st Jan 25, 4:57pm 1737431873

And Luxy - you both sorted ah..we are in the period of the death of FIAT...

by Yvil | 21st Jan 25, 7:45pm 1737441922

Then get an Alfa Romeo.

by Baywatch | 22nd Jan 25, 7:55am 1737485749

Slow clap

by interesting1234 | 22nd Jan 25, 8:07am 1737486433

Some Alfas may look cool, but the maintenance bills are ridiculous and most parts have to come halfway around the world if you need them for replacements. Far easier to stick with The tried and true Japanese builds.

by The_Golem | 28th Jan 25, 5:33pm 1738038784

The Corolla-coin?

by phalanax | 21st Jan 25, 4:24pm 1737429864

BTC's monster problem is its high value and low return potential to newbie players ...

by the Joneses | 21st Jan 25, 5:39pm 1737434396

Yeah, it is really stretching out of range of it's inherent value at the moment. lol.

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 6:03pm 1737435822

TRUMP / USDT down to $33 and 50%+ off ATH.

Water cooler consensus: "Heh. Glad I didn't buy any of that crap."

by Let me be Frank | 21st Jan 25, 7:25pm 1737440748

How many gullible people are there in the world and how much 'money' can they access?

by J.C. | 21st Jan 25, 8:22pm 1737444124

Most people want markets that are predictable and are protected by the ruling elite. That is why property Ponzis and equity markets are so popular. They can be controlled by adjusting the price of money and / or money supply. But nobody questions the status quo nor do they understand (or accept) the trade offs.

by mark_a | 21st Jan 25, 8:50pm 1737445828

Lots!

Check out the ones that find ‘investments’ on Facebook….

by J.C. | 22nd Jan 25, 10:30am 1737495008

Critical Metals Corp (Nasdaq: CRML) is a mining exploration and development company headquartered in NYC focused on the extraction of critical metals and minerals essential for the green energy transition in Europe. The company primarily targets lithium and rare earth element deposits, with significant projects in Austria and Greenland.

The company disclosed y'day that it is making BTC its primary treasury reserve asset. They already have access to $100mm to buy bitcoin and could acquire up to $400mm more via a convertible debt raise.

https://csimarket.com/news/critical-metals-corp-pioneers-new-frontier-e…