Donald Trump is about as polarizing as can be when it comes to political figures, but for the crypto and Bitcoin community, he’s at least on their side. Statements made at a variety of rallies and conferences all indicate that Trump is pro-Bitcoin and that he wants the US to be the crypto capital of the world.
Bitcoin holders have been hoping for some sort of additional statement from Trump, whether at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville, or during his recent talk with Elon Musk. But, to the dismay of many, he didn’t really say much. However, his two sons made multiple tweets about crypto, with Eric Trump saying he had “truly fallen in love with Crypto / DeFi.”
“Fallen in Love” but Nothing Official
Donald Trump Jr. also made a tweet saying how decentralized finance was the future and that there was a big announcement coming. Then, a new memecoin called Restore the Republic (RTR) was launched on the Solana blockchain, and was promoted by many crypto influencers as being a potential official memecoin for the Trump campaign.
The price of RTR spiked high enough that the memecoin had a $155 million market cap within a few hours of launch on August 12.
But, then it all came crashing down when the two Trump sons stated that RTR had nothing to do with them. Their project would be a much bigger platform to take on big banks. RTR’s price dropped 95% after those announcements.
What about MAGA (TRUMP)?
Though there is a memecoin that looks like it’s official, MAGA (TRUMP) is not an official memecoin either. It is an unofficial memecoin that was launched in mid-2023, but it does tend to follow the success of Trump’s political campaign in terms of price movement.
The Problem with Trump Memecoins
The main issue with this idea that Trump is pro-crypto and that he could launch an official memecoin is that it leads to a lot of attempts to scam individuals. This is especially true because it is so easy to launch memecoin projects on blockchains now.
During the conversation that Trump had with Musk, he didn’t mention much of anything about crypto or Bitcoin. He did say the phrase “Rough People” a lot of times though, which led to the creation of some ten distinct memecoins using that phrase.
Much like what was seen with the RTR pump and dump, it’s easy for people to be tricked into thinking that something is an official Trump project because it’s just that easy to make and launch a memecoin. All it takes is for a few influencers to promote the asset and it becomes easy money for the scammer.
Closing Thoughts
Crypto and Bitcoin enthusiasts are right to be interested in candidates that are interested in fostering the growth of the crypto sector in the US, but they need to temper expectations. Regulatory change is already happening and will continue to go forward, and now it seems that both parties are pro-crypto, so there’s no need to cling to someone as polarizing as Trump. That said, an official Trump memecoin would cause some sort of headline.
