Topline
President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin slid about 8% in the early hours of Monday morning—amid a wave of marketwide liquidations—wiping roughly $50 million off the paper value of his stake.
$TRUMP fell about 8% in a five-minute span around 2 am ET Monday, as trading activity spiked, with the crypto data provider CoinMarketCap showing the memecoin’s 24-hour volume jumped up by $98 million.
The drop knocked about $50 million off the value of the president’s paper stake in $TRUMP, according to Forbes’ estimates.
Melania Trump’s memecoin, $MELANIA, slid in the same window, reaching an all-time low of $0.1642 on Monday, per CoinMarketCap.
The moves came amid what an analyst told Forbes was the biggest selloff of long positions this year, with widely adopted currencies like bitcoin, ether and solana also experiencing sharp drops early Monday morning.
Both memecoins have experienced slight upticks, with $TRUMP trading at $7.5838 and $MELANIA at $0.17, as of 4 pm Tuesday.
The White House referred questions to the Trump Organization, which did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
A market analyst told Forbes that the Trump coins’ slide was part of a broader trend Monday morning. “Markets recently saw large long liquidation (the biggest long liquidation this year), which resulted in price volatility and large declines across various tokens,” said Nicolai Søndergaard, a research analyst with the blockchain analytics platform Nansen. “The recent price decline of the Trump family tokens is not an isolated event, but rather a combination of people unwinding their positions after a long time, as well as a liquidation on the market.”
Meme coins are cryptocurrencies typically based on internet jokes and hype, nothing more, Trump launched his coin three days before taking office. CIC Digital, which Trump wholly owns, and another company named Fight Fight Fight retained ownership of 80% of the coins, which are scheduled to be released over the next three years, according to the coin’s website. The companies also collect trading-activity revenue—so even when sellers are pushing down the price of the meme coin, devaluing Trump’s holdings, he still stands to profit from the trades. The memecoin made headlines in May when the top-holders were awarded a dinner with Trump at his DC-area golf course and a White House tour. Melania Trump launched her meme coin two days after her husband. Less is known about the business structure of $Melania, although its website says it’s the intellectual property of MKT World, LLC. Filings in Florida list her as both the manager and member of that company.
Last week, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to exercise “full oversight” of Chinese billionaire Justin Sun, one of the biggest backers of Trump’s memecoin and other crypto ventures. “Mr. Sun’s multi-million-dollar investments in the memecoin have yielded little personal return but have generated an estimated $400 million for the President and his family,” Merkley and Casten wrote. In May, Merkley introduced the End Crypto Corruption Act, which would ban the president and other senior officials from “issuing, endorsing or sponsoring crypto assets.” The bill is pending with 25 co-sponsors, all Democrats plus Independent Bernie Sanders.
The president and vice president are exempt from most federal conflict of interest laws.
Trump’s net worth has increased by about $3 billion in the past year, largely on the back of his presidency.
Forbes estimates Donald Trump is worth about $7.3 billion, with much of his wealth coming from crypto. Melania Trump is worth more than $20 million.
One of Trump’s other crypto ventures also fell over the past two days, though the decline was less steep. World Liberty Financial’s $WLFI token slipped about 4.5% around 2 am Monday, according to CoinMarketCap. The drop continued, with $WLFI down another 10.6% as of 4 pm Tuesday.. The $WLFI token is a cryptocurrency not backed by any underlying assets and does not convey ownership in the company itself. Rather, it allows holders to propose and vote on rule changes regarding the protocol. At launch, the company created 100 billion $WLFI tokens, giving 22.5 billion to DT Marks DEFI LLC. Trump owns 70% of that company, with his family members owning the remainder. DT Marks DEFI LLC, in turn, owns about 38% of World Liberty Financial. It also receives 75% of token-sale proceeds after some deductions.
Dan Alexander contributed reporting.
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Crypto Now Accounts For Most Of Donald Trump’s Net Worth (Forbes)
How Trump’s Sons Cashed In On Their Father’s Comeback (Forbes)
Trump Media Rolls Out ETFs That Could Benefit From The President’s Policies (Forbes)
Trump Family’s WLFI Token Debuts 5 To 15 Times Above Early Sale Prices Despite Drop (Forbes)