The most notable cryptocurrency event in January 2025 was the launch of a token called TRUMP by the former US President Trump. The token reached a market capitalization of $80 billion at its peak and significantly impacted the liquidity of other Meme coins in the market. As of now, the TRUMP token is priced at around $40.
Although this model is difficult to replicate directly, as not everyone has such social status and influence, the success of the TRUMP token provides some observable investment trends and market reactions. Investors can learn from this how to evaluate crypto assets associated with celebrities and understand the market's acceptance of such projects.
Early Stage: A Closer Look at the TRUMP Token Launch
December 21, 2024: The domain gettrumpmemes.com was purchased.
January 17, 2025: Initial minting.
January 18, 2025: Around 10 AM, a DEX trading pair was created, and trading began.
20 minutes later, Trump posted on his Truth Social account to announce the launch of his personal Meme coin, TRUMP.
45 minutes later, Trump released an official tweet to reiterate the announcement.
January 18, 2025: At 12 PM, the TRUMP market cap surpassed $8 billion, in just 2 hours.
January 18, 2025: In the evening, Trump's son Eric Trump confirmed the "legitimacy" of TRUMP.
These are the key information points about the TRUMP launch on the first day, but even so, each point can be interpreted differently.
For example, when Trump first announced the news on his Truth Social account, many media outlets or KOLs warned of the risk of "account hacking." This caused many to hesitate. However, some KOLs analyzed that when they saw the message, they still clicked through to the gettrumpmemes.com official website and, based on the website's introduction, the initial TRUMP purchase required going through Moonshot, which supported traditional payment methods like Apple Pay, Visa, Mastercard, Venmo, as well as crypto like USDC and SOL. Their first reaction was not to suspect it was a phishing site, as the website could redirect to Moonshot, and they believed an on-chain meme or fake Meme could not convince Moonshot to list it, so this detail alone convinced them to purchase TRUMP.
Furthermore, after Trump confirmed the authenticity of the token on both platforms, those who got on board believed the market cap was too high, and the price was too high, and that TRUMP would correct after breaking $10, causing a significant portion of them to "timely" exit.
Mid-Stage: Major Exchanges "Rapidly" List TRUMP, Treated as a King Meme
As one of the first platforms to list TRUMP, Moonshot also saw a surge in user growth during this hype. On January 18, the platform added 400,000 new users in a single day, with daily active users exceeding 1 million. Furthermore, mainstream centralized exchanges listed TRUMP successively from January 18 to January 19, with the speed and scale of the listings being among the fastest and largest for any well-known Meme.
Huobi's announcement on listing TRUMP spot trading: 5:40 PM (UTC+8), January 18, 2025
Bitget's announcement on listing TRUMP spot trading: 6:40 PM (UTC+8), January 18, 2025
BitMart's announcement on listing TRUMP spot trading: 11:00 PM (UTC+8), January 18, 2025
OKEx's announcement on listing TRUMP spot trading: 1:00 PM (UTC+8), January 19, 2025
Binance's announcement on listing TRUMP spot trading: 4:30 PM (UTC+8), January 19, 2025
Late Stage: Belated Awareness, the Website Has a Class Action Waiver Clause
On the first day of TRUMP's listing, everyone's attention was focused on the token's price and market cap performance. It wasn't until the second day that someone discovered the "disclaimer" on the official website.
The TRUMP token purchase terms include a class action waiver clause. The clause states: "To the fullest extent permitted by law, each Investor agrees not to initiate, join, or participate in any claims, disputes, or controversies against any Covered Persons through any class action. Investors agree to injunctive relief to stop such lawsuits or remove themselves as parties. Investors agree to pay any attorneys' fees and litigation costs incurred by any Covered Persons in seeking such relief. This clause prohibits Investors from initiating, joining, or participating in class actions: (i) does not constitute a waiver of any individual claims or remedies, nor a waiver of class arbitration in the aforementioned binding arbitration; (ii) is a standalone agreement. Investors may provide written opt-out notice within thirty (30) days of first visiting the website to opt-out of these dispute resolution terms."
The core of the clause is that it prohibits purchasers from initiating or participating in class-action lawsuits against TRUMP, allowing the token issuer to avoid many risks, indicating that TRUMP was well-prepared before its launch.
Additionally, the total supply of TRUMP is 1 billion, but only 200 million will be circulating initially, with the remaining 800 million belonging to Trump Group's subsidiaries CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, to be gradually unlocked over the next 3 years. However, this highly concentrated economic model means that if the market receives negative news, the issuer may use its large holdings to manipulate the market and trigger a price crash, causing significant losses for ordinary investors. Even with so many "hegemonic clauses," the fact that TRUMP is an officially recognized Trump token is enough to stir up a huge wave.
Solana Reaps Tremendous Wealth, Hitting a New All-Time High
TRUMP not only helped many people accumulate wealth, but it also further enhanced the value of Solana. As TRUMP chose to launch on the Solana network, which has a stronger Meme atmosphere than Ethereum, the market initially interpreted it as the President "endorsing" Solana and "dooming" Ethereum. Driven by this sentiment, SOL has surged significantly since the TRUMP listing, reaching a new all-time high of over $295.
Looking at the market performance, the successful launch of the TRUMP token on the Solana ecosystem has produced a significant Matthew effect. As mentioned earlier, the Moonshot platform created $400 million in trading volume and added over 400,000 new users in just 12 hours, demonstrating Solana's advantages in user experience and transaction efficiency. More importantly, it strengthened the market's recognition of Solana as the preferred platform for new token launches. This increased recognition is forming a virtuous cycle, attracting more projects to choose Solana as their launch platform.
Conclusion
Although TRUMP was launched in a "quick and easy" Meme manner, it was obviously well-prepared, with the website domain, economic model, disclaimer, and message confirmation all giving the project better packaging. It is both a bold attempt and a way for identity and power to imbue cryptocurrencies with more value. For investors, such high-certainty investment opportunities are rare, and if they miss out on TRUMP, they need not worry, as they can summarize the experience and wait for the next investment opportunity.
