Key Takeaways:
Former US President and leading candidate for the White House, Donald Trump, has embraced digital currencies in what has been a sharp reversal ahead of the November elections.
Last week, hours after meeting with Bitcoin miners at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, the billionaire said on Truth Social that cryptocurrency users should vote for him because he will stand up to “Biden’s hatred of Bitcoin”.
Crypto Companies Endorse Trump, Raising $100 Million for His Presidential Campaign
Trump’s support for the burgeoning industry seems to be paying off already as one Bitcoin mining executive who met with the Republican party candidate told the media that various crypto-related companies have committed to raising over $100 million for the Trump campaign.
In May, Trump attended the Libertarian Party national convention in Washington where he vowed to stop Biden’s “crusade to crush crypto”. He declared that the future of crypto and Bitcoin will be “made in the USA” and will support the right to self-custody for the nation’s more than 50 million crypto holders.
The 45th President also portrays Bitcoin mining as a national and energy security issue. In a recent post on social media, Trump said that all the remaining Bitcoins should be mined in the USA, making the country more energy-dominant.
His unwavering support for the crypto sector is helping pull young voters from Democratic party frontrunner and incumbent President, Joe Biden, who has been heavily opposed to making their use in the country illegal.
Is Trump Coin Linked to President Trump?
As Trump ramps up his campaign for November’s election, industry experts are busy trying to figure out the origins of a new meme coin deployed on the Solana blockchain under the moniker “Trump Coin” and ticker symbol “DJT”.
DJT is the stock symbol of Donald Trump’s media company Trump Media & Technology Group. The stock, which went public in March, has been a meme stock favorite and was trading as high as $79.38.
Trump Coin joined the ranks of other popular meme coins on the Solana network such as Dogwifhat (WIF), Book of Meme (BOME), BONK, and Joe Boden (BODEN) – a satirical token based on President Biden.
Although no one could confirm whether DJT is directly or indirectly affiliated with Trump, industry sources say the former President’s team has been planning behind the scenes to launch a digital currency for at least two months.
When asked for a comment on the rumor by FOX Business, Vivek Ramaswamy, former GOP candidate and advisor to Trump, said he was glad the campaign is “leaning into crypto, including accepting it”. Ramaswamy added that embracing crypto is a “winning issue” and will bring more young and freedom-loving voters into the field.
DJT is currently trading with a market capitalization of about $73 million. However, the Trump Coin is the latest of a handful of meme coins inspired by and not affiliated with Donald Trump changing hands this election cycle. One such token is the Make America Great Again coin trading under the symbol MAGA, which is his campaign slogan.
MAGA is currently the most popular political meme coin, with a market cap of over $400 million.
Another Trump-inspired meme coin is TROG, which features a cartoon of a frog wearing a Make America Great Again hat. The token is much smaller in comparison to the Trump Coin and has a market cap of just $7.38 million.
Is Trump Supporting Crypto Only for the Votes?
Neither MAGA nor TROG is directly linked to Trump, his various businesses, or his 2024 presidential campaign, but according to blockchain research firm Arkham Intelligence, the former president does hold a substantial number of those tokens, which he said were gifted by their creators.
Trump himself is not an avid crypto user and has opposed its use in the past. In 2019 while he was still in office, Trump said he was “not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money”, arguing that its value is highly volatile and “based on thin air”. He also said that unregulated crypto assets can facilitate unlawful behavior such as drug trade and other illegal activity and seemed like a “disaster waiting to happen”.
Trump tapping into the industry can for the most part only be seen as a strategy to grow voters as November fast approaches. How the former President’s policies will reshape the industry can only be seen once he sits behind the Oval desk.
More News: Top 3 Cat-themed Memecoins Are Selling Deep In The Red Zone
