Trump Meme Coin’s First Year Leaves Crypto Policy in Limbo

It was a Friday night time bombshell that no person noticed coming. 

Three days earlier than his second inauguration final January, President Donald Trump’s social media accounts lit up with information of the launch of Official Trump (TRUMP), a Solana-based meme coin bearing his identify and political model.

The token jumped to a $10 billion market cap inside hours, reaching a peak of $73 and sending degen merchants right into a frenzy, triggering greater than 8 million requests per minute that overwhelmed Phantom Pockets’s infrastructure.

A 12 months on, and the TRUMP token is buying and selling just under $5, down about 93% from its all-time excessive, with a market cap exceeding $987 million, in keeping with CoinGecko information.

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As TRUMP turns one, conflict-of-interest questions stay unresolved—the Trump household continues to run a number of crypto ventures whereas the President is in workplace, and Democrats more and more cite his private enrichment as a cause to dam digital asset reform.

“Trump’s meme coin launch has achieved extra hurt than good to the trade as his political opponents are citing his private good points from the meme coin launch as a cause to dam or decelerate the crypto’s legislative course of,” Peter Chung, head of analysis at Singapore-based Presto Labs, informed Decrypt. “It is an pointless distraction.”

Trump’s crypto conflicts have dominated debate and even delayed the passage of the stablecoin GENIUS Act. 

In Might, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) led a Democratic walkout over “Trump’s crypto corruption” in a bid to power divestment language into the invoice.

Crypto connections

The president’s crypto connections stretch from the meme coin to World Liberty Monetary and its USD1 stablecoin.

His household’s crypto empire has mushroomed to generate greater than $1 billion in income, in keeping with his son, Eric Trump, who informed the Monetary Occasions in October that the determine was “most likely extra.” 

Final Might, Rep. Waters launched the “Cease TRUMP in Crypto Act of 2025,” aimed toward concentrating on the president’s means to revenue from digital property whereas in workplace. 

That very same month, the president held a closed-door dinner for the highest 220 TRUMP holders (press barred), together with Tron founder Justin Solar, who purchased over $22 million in TRUMP and invested tens of hundreds of thousands in World Liberty. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) referred to as the dinner “an orgy of corruption” throughout a press convention, whereas lots of of protesters gathered outdoors the venue.

World Liberty Monetary has drawn comparable scrutiny, with the Trump household’s WLFI stake swelling their internet price by over $6 billion since buying and selling started. Trump disclosed $57.3 million in earnings in June that lawmakers referred to as “open corruption,” and Sen. Warren labelled a $2 billion UAE funding tied to the challenge’s stablecoin USD1 “shady.”

Decrypt has reached out to the White Home for remark.