Trump’s Very Stable Genius Coin
On the eve of his second inauguration Donald Trump did something no U S president had ever done He launched a meme coin The cryptocurrency whose value hinges more on hype than utility surged to an all-time high of a token The next day First Lady Melania Trump dropped her own meme coin debuting at about a share Both coins have since tumbled but on Wednesday Trump s token briefly bumped up again to before dipping The latest surge came after the coin s official website broadcasted that top meme coin holders will be invited to a gala dinner with the president in May black tie optional These tokens that are not tied to any real world assets have proven lucrative for Trump and his family Last month the Financial Times estimated Trump made upwards of million from the project While small traders have lost big the Trump Organization and its affiliates controlling percent of the token supply have made hundreds of millions in just trading fees From meme coins which usually refer to a fun internet or pop tradition meme and stablecoins whose values are pegged to a real-world asset to a new government-backed bitcoin reserve Trump once a crypto skeptic is now the industry s the majority powerful advocate He went to a big bitcoin conference in Nashville last July That s where he declared he would make the U S the crypto capital of the planet says Intercept reporter Matt Sledge And the crypto industry started showering money on him They saw somebody who would be friendly to their industry This week on The Intercept Briefing Sledge who covers crypto s political reach discusses how investing in the president has paid off for the industry and for the Trump family So far in Trump s presidency things have gone great for the crypto industry Even as the rest of the market system is on pretty perilous footing a bunch of crypto companies have seen the SEC and other regulatory agencies drop investigations or lawsuits Trump has created a bitcoin reserve and in general regulators and Congress are behaving much more friendly toward the industry On Sunday a filing with the Federal Vote Commission revealed that Trump received a record million in donations that went toward his inauguration According to reporting from Fortune the crypto industry gave about million alone The meme coins are just one aspect of the president and his family s growing crypto empire an empire that includes Trump s sons Eric and Don Jr taking a stake in a new bitcoin mining firm called American Bitcoin Trump Media is also partnering with Crypto com and a newly formed expenditure firm to offer financial products including crypto to retail investors Just a limited weeks ago the SEC dropped an study into Crypto com Sledge points out This is something that would ve been really astonishing under any other president regardless of their party You go from a company being under research just a limited weeks ago to it having this partnership with the president s publicly traded company For more on how Trump is reshaping the crypto landscape and what it means for the rest of us listen to the full conversation of The Intercept Briefing on Apple Podcasts Spotify or wherever you listen The post Trump s Very Stable Genius Coin appeared first on The Intercept
