$TRUMP: launching a personal memecoin three days before taking office

Three days before his inauguration, Trump launched the $TRUMP memecoin - 'It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW!' - with roughly 80% of the supply held by Trump-affiliated entities CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight, which collect fees on every trade. The token spiked to $75.35, briefly implying paper wealth in the tens of billions.

The design guaranteed the house wins: Trump profits whether the coin rises or falls, collecting transaction and licensing fees each time anyone trades - as he repeatedly urged followers to do from his own accounts. His June 2026 annual disclosure reports $635-636 million in memecoin royalty income for 2025, nearly half his $1.4 billion crypto haul and part of at least $2.2 billion in total 2025 business income.

His administration simultaneously shaped the rules: on February 27, 2025 the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance stated that transactions in meme coins of this type 'do not involve the offer and sale of securities,' removing the primary legal risk to the product. Asked about his profits, Trump pointed elsewhere: 'You know why I'm profiting, because the stock market's going up... Everybody's profiting.' CNN's analysis of the disclosure found crypto fees, not stocks, drove the gain.

The losses began early. In the coin's first 19 days, 813,294 wallets lost money, about $2 billion in all, according to Chainalysis analysis for the New York Times, while trading generated about $100 million in fees owed to the entities behind the coin, including the Trump Organization.

Blockchain analytics firm Nansen, in analysis reported by the New York Times days after Trump's disclosure showed his $636 million memecoin payout, found that 988,905 of the roughly 1.48 million wallets that ever bought $TRUMP, about two in three buyers, were underwater by the end of June 2026, with combined realized and paper losses of $3.81 billion. The coin traded near $1.69-1.76, down about 97% from its $75.35 peak.

The gains were captured narrowly: a little under 500,000 wallets recorded profits totaling $4 billion, according to Nansen, while Trump profited regardless of price via per-trade fees and kept urging followers to buy. NYU legal ethicist Stephen Gillers: in his developer days Trump 'boasted about playing on people's fantasies. Here, he seems to have encouraged his supporters to invest, hoping for wealth, even as he profited.' One Trump-voting investor who put in about $500,000 and lost half told the Times: 'It is almost a legal scam.' The same analysis found the family's WLFI token underwater for about 85% of 26,000+ tracked holders. Lawyers interviewed did not rule out post-term class actions, though the coin's site disclaims investment intent.

Documented

Legal but conflicted (SEC staff statement treats such meme coins as outside securities law); lawyers do not rule out post-term class actions

$635-636M in 2025 royalty/fee income to Trump per his OGE disclosure; ~80% of supply held by insider entities; about $100M in trading fees owed to the coin's entities in its first 19 days; buyers' losses of $3.81B across 988,905 wallets (realized and paper) by June 2026

Launched 2025-01-17; fee income disclosed 2026-06-30; buyers' losses reported 2026-07-03