The crypto market is gearing up for an important event this Thursday: the unlocking of a large portion of the TRUMP memecoin launched by President Donald Trump just before his second inauguration earlier this year. The upcoming release will allow early investors and insiders to sell their holdings for the first time.
Trump Memecoin’s Price Journey
Initially launched on January 17, the memecoin debuted with 200 million tokens. This week, an additional 40 million coins tied to groups affiliated with the President will be released, bringing the total number of outstanding tokens to 1 billion within three years.
The initial launch saw the token’s market value skyrocket to approximately $14 billion just two days after its release, only to face a dramatic decline, losing nearly 90% of its value, according to CoinGecko data.
The trading volume for the token has been substantial, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest and the future trajectory of its price as more tokens enter circulation.
Dylan Bane, an enterprise research analyst at Messari, noted, “Once tokens are unlocked, sometimes there are dumps. Teams are less likely to do that, but we just don’t know their intent. Obviously, they don’t want negative press.”
According to the coin’s website, CIC Digital, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, alongside Fight Fight Fight, controls 80% of the tokens subject to the unlocking schedule. However, a representative from CIC Digital did not respond to inquiries from Bloomberg regarding their intentions for the upcoming unlock.
Boosting Family’s Crypto Portfolio To Nearly $1 Billion
While an immediate price drop is possible, recent trends indicate that the Trump memecoin’s value has actually increased by nearly 3% over the past week, in line with broader trends in the cryptocurrency market.
Edward Chin, co-founder of Parataxis, remarked, “If they are working with proper market makers, the unlocks may be less important in the short-term. Over the longer term, the additional supply will weigh on price action, either pushing it lower or preventing it from rising significantly as new demand enters.”
In recent months, Trump and his family have made strides across various sectors of the cryptocurrency industry, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), a decentralized finance project, a proposed stablecoin, and a new Bitcoin mining company called American Bitcoin.
The first lady, Melania Trump, has also launched her own memecoin, MELANIA, contributing to the family’s growing portfolio, which is now approaching $1 billion in paper gains.
Currently trading at $7.83, the memecoin is down 30% on a monthly basis and over 15% in the past two weeks, despite its recent slight rebound in line with the broader market trend.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
