Trump gets another chance to sell TRUMP this weekend
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
This weekend may offer some clues about whether or not President Trump has any regrets about releasing a meme coin just before he took office.
Why it matters: Selling 200 million Official Trump (TRUMP) tokens on the Solana blockchain gave him multiple billions in paper wealth nearly instantly, but it has also been fodder for Democrats' cries of corruption, and even skepticism from some industry allies.
Driving the news: On Saturday, around $500 million worth of the president's meme coin, Official Trump, will unlock, which means that they could theoretically get dumped on the market, earning millions and millions for the Trump family.
What we're watching: Whether or not they actually sell.
- If they don't, that could be a sign that the first family understands it has paid a high political price for profiting off the president's image.
- Forty million or so unlocked in April, too, but none of those have been sold.
- The originating smart contract still holds 80% of the supply. In other words, it's still just 200 million in the wild, even though small amounts unlock every day. None of that new supply has hit the market — yet.
- All 1 billion Trump tokens will unlock over a three-year period, but it remains to be seen if any more will ever be sold.
Yes, but: The team behind the token has not been idle. It just announced the token would go live on the Tron blockchain, which is popular for making small transactions globally, particularly in Asia.
- Tron's creator, Justin Sun, already one of the biggest holders of Official Trump, announced he would buy another $100 million worth.
The White House directed Axios to the Trump Organization for comment, but it did not reply.
By the numbers: In May, blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis estimated that the Trump organization had earned $320 million in trading fees from supplying liquidity in the market for the meme coin.
- That's besides what was earned on the massive initial sale in January. (Trump has not yet released a financial disclosure covering January 2025.)
Reality check: While the president has been an ardent supporter of the digital asset industry since 2024, the money he's made in the industry has created friction for his pro-crypto agenda.
- Many Democrats, who were otherwise eager to support creating rules for cryptocurrency, objected once it looked like doing so would be profitable for the president.
What they're saying: "President Trump should instill public confidence in his administration, and in the integrity of crypto markets, by divesting from this industry," Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota law professor and former chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush White House, told the Senate Banking Committee last week.
Threat level: The token is down badly from its early highs over $40. It currently trades a little below $10 each.
- Meme coins grabbed headlines but most of the money has still gone into bitcoin, which represents more than 60% of all the value in the crypto market.
The bottom line: If July 19 comes and goes and the original wallet still holds 80% of the total supply, it could be an indication of the complications of Trump's crypto embrace.
- Launching a meme coin might have been great for the Trumps' bottom line, but it made attaining their political goals more difficult.
