Once considered a mere novelty, cryptocurrencies have established their position as an influential talking point in the 2022 US Electoral Campaign. The digital assets market is now serving as a battleground, with electoral candidates courting crypto investors to escalate their political standing. To capitalize on this popularity, the “Memecoin” community has surged, ushering in a new era of PolitiFi tokens inspired by prominent political figures.
The second quarter has undoubtedly been a dramatic period for these tokens, especially those connected to former President Donald Trump. The Republican candidate’s recent endorsement of cryptocurrencies spurred a frenzy, prompting discussions across the market. However, the tide seems to have turned. Memecoins tied to Trump saw a precipitous 30% drop in just 24 hours.
Adding to the drama, a murmur began on the digital grapevine on Monday, as an account belonging to Pirate Wires’ X declared the launch of an ‘official’ Trump coin. The most captivating facet of the announcement was the supposed involvement of Trump’s son, Barron Trump, an 18-year-old at the helm of the project. The post hinted at the young Trump launching the new token — christened $DJT — on the Solana platform.
Mike Solana, Chief Marketing Officer at Founders Fund and the editor-in-chief at Pirates Wires, chimed in about the surprise token launch. He circulated a smart contract address linked to $DJT and clarified his role as an informer, stating that he had limited knowledge gleaned from undisclosed sources and hadn’t interacted with Trump directly.
The cryptic coin announcement found an unlikely supporter in the controversial figure, Martin Shkreli. He vociferously insisted on the authenticity of the $DJT token during an X-Space discussion. Reiterating his stance, he pointed to a ‘confirmation’ from a close friend of Barron Trump. The friend reportedly assured, “$DJT IS THE ONLY REAL TRUMP TOKEN.”
Nonetheless, not everyone is convinced. The crypto community has expressed skepticism about the legitimacy of the token. A number of red flags surrounding the “official” token have become the subject of intense scrutiny, one being the DJT’s X Account’s eclectic following list, which includes the likes of the controversial Andrew Tate, popular streamer Adin Ross, and Shkreli himself.
Delving even deeper, cryptocurrency analytics firm Bubblemaps exposed the lopsided distribution of the token’s supply, revealing that a whopping 67% was concentrated in a single area—the Raydium Concentrated Liquidity acting as the vault for 43% of the total supply.
Meanwhile, netizens took to social media to express their concerns, often humorously. Some pointed fingers at the notorious scammer Sahil Arora, known for running several celebrity memecoin schemes, as the orchestrator of the token launch. Others debated if the somewhat chaotic launch was indicative of it being a Trump family operation.
The dust has yet to settle on the issue. No official sources have corroborated Trump’s association with the $DJT token at the time of writing.
Despite the cloud of uncertainty, one thing is crystal clear: the rumors of an official Trump token have dealt a severe blow to the performance of the existing memecoins. This can be seen in the rapid 30% decrease in its market capitlization, diminishing from over a billion dollars in record time.
Trump-related tokens have borne the brunt of this digital storm, with several recording a decline between 20% to 30% in a day. The most prominent of these, MAGA (TRUMP), witnessed its price almost halved in just four hours following the Trump coin rumors. Other tokens such as Trump Mania, Super Trump, and Doland Tremp also plunged, suffering significant losses in their value.
With the authenticity of the $DJT token still in question and the market’s initial reaction massively unfavorable, time will tell whether cryptocurrency’s foray into politics will pay off. For now, it appears that the 2022 US Presidential Race is being mirrored within the volatile crypto market.
