Trump's meme coin business racks up fees as buyers jump at the chance for access to the president
Business
Trading activity in the meme coin jumped after the dinner was first announced
In the crypto world, meme coins are mostly just jokes with no intrinsic value. But the Trump family is parlaying the president’s meme coin into two valuable commodities: serious cash and access to the president.
Since the coin was launched earlier this year, it has generated more than $320 million in fees for its creators, according to the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. And on Monday, Trump promoted a dinner he’s set to attend on May 22 that’s open to almost anyone who buys enough of the coins.
According to the contest’s rules, the top 220 holders of the meme coin will get to go to the dinner at Trump’s Washington-area golf club. The top 25 holders will also get to attend a reception where they can rub shoulders with Trump beforehand.
“Let the President know how many $TRUMP coins YOU own!” the meme coin said on its website promoting the dinner.
Trading activity in the meme coin jumped after the dinner was first announced and the price rose as well. But the Trumps don’t need to sell any coins to make money.
How Trump makes money off the meme coin
Decentralization is foundational to cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, the world’s most popular crypto, was born in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as a digital currency meant to be uncontrolled by banks or governments.
Trump meme coins can be traded on a decentralized exchange, which is essentially a place where traders can swap goods without a middleman.
Instead of matching buyers and sellers one by one, decentralized exchanges use something called a liquidity pool to ensure trades can happen easily and instantly. Liquidity pools are essentially an automated pot of funds that pair meme coins like $TRUMP with more popular types of crypto that can be easily traded.
When the Trump meme coin was first launched, its creators initially released 20% of the planned 1 billion total coins. Half of that 20% was put up for public sale while the other half was put into a liquidity pool. CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and another company receive “trading revenue derived from trading activities” of the Trump meme coins, according to its website.
