The former US president has seen some (theoretical) windfall gains in his cryptocurrency portfolio. The reason? The memecoins that fans send him and that are inspired by himself.
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- Donald Trump is an increasingly fat cryptocurrency whale, all because of memecoins
- The Republican’s followers and fans send funds in meme tokens to his wallet
- A cryptocurrency inspired by a frog and Trump rose more than 1,000% this week
Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency wallet has turned out to be a volatile basket of memecoins.
The former US president and now convicted felon has been seeing extraordinary variation in his digital currency portfolio thanks to fans and followers who have been sending him highly speculative meme tokens.
Data compiled by Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence shows that Trump’s wallet has seen approximately $20 million worth of unrealized gains over the past 30 days.
Notably, the Republican candidate’s cryptocurrency holdings were around $5.6 million on May 6, and have now risen above $25 million, according to the data. The figure even briefly surpassed $30 million this week before retreating amid the turmoil of several memecoins that make up the portfolio.
Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency holdings as of June 6, 2024. Source: Arkham Intelligence The main culprit for the huge theoretical returns on Trump’s holdings appears to be the memecoin Trog (TROG), a token inspired by the politician and billionaire-themed frog, and others who literally use his name.
Trump-Inspired Amphibian Token (TYO:) Soars
That meme coin, whose name is an acronym for “Trump Frog” (Rana Trump), soared almost 1,000% in price this week after its creators made an unexpected gift to the Republican and sent 50% of the entire TROG supply to his wallet.
Trump now owns billions of TROG tokens worth just over $13 million at the time of writing. TROG is the main protagonist of the portfolio, capturing more than 90% of the entire share. The former president is also the largest holder of the memecoin, as Decrypt noted.
It is not the only memecoin that makes up Trump’s million-dollar cryptocurrency portfolio. While she may not be keeping score, her wallet also holds a fortune of a token that goes by her own name, Maga (TRUMP), which has similarly seen a meteoric price rise in recent weeks.
Trump received thousands of Maga tokens—possibly as a gift—shortly after their launch, between August and October 2023, Etherscan data reveals. The politician currently holds TRUMP tokens worth close to US$7.5 million, up 170% in US dollar terms from a month ago, data shows.
The reason for this increase is TRUMP’s own price increase, which has skyrocketed around 70,000% in the last year. Earlier this week, memecoin hit an all-time price record of $17, contributing to unrealized gains in Trump’s portfolio.
Trump’s million-dollar cryptocurrency holdings
Donald Trump has been a cryptocurrency whale—in other words, a big investor—for a long time; as their own public financial disclosures have revealed in the past.
The cryptocurrency holdings are related to the Republican’s non-fungible token (NFT) initiatives. In 2022, Trump introduced his first online digital card collection, and has since expanded his efforts in this sector. Earlier this year, he took advantage of Ordinals to land his NFTs on the Bitcoin network.
Its Ether (ETH) holdings are valued at around $1.8 million at press time, a modest increase over the past month in line with that cryptocurrency’s price rise. Meanwhile, a handful of other tokens such as PEPE, ELON and BABYTRUMP, among others inspired by himself, are also part of his increasingly bulging portfolio.
A new wave of Trump-inspired memecoins emerged on the market after his historic sentencing in New York last week. Now back in the election campaign, the candidate’s followers and fans seem to be seeking to draw his attention or even honor him by sending him their nascent politically themed tokens.
During his campaign for the US presidency, the Republican has shown a favorable attitude towards cryptocurrencies, promising to defend the industry in the country and protect the freedom to own Bitcoin if he is re-elected to the White House position in November. He also began accepting cryptocurrencies as donations for his campaign, which, although handled in a separate account, could also explain the horde of memecoins he has been receiving in recent weeks.
Doubling down on his support for cryptocurrencies, he referred to himself as the “crypto president” at a campaign event on Friday.
Article by Hannah Estefanía Pérez / DailyBitcoin
Image from Unsplash
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