President Donald Trump’s new crypto token Trump coin soared to more than $10 billion in market value on Monday, while enthusiasm over his crypto-friendly administration helped briefly lift Bitcoin to a new record. Launched Friday night, Trump’s so-called ‘memecoin’ surged from less than $10 on Saturday morning to as high as $74.59 before giving up some of its gains on Monday.
The token, branded Trump coin and criticized by ethics experts, was last trading at $33.88, according to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinGecko. World Liberty Financial, a separate Trump-linked crypto project, also announced on Monday that it had completed an initial token sale, raising $300 million, and would look to issue additional tokens.
The expansion of Trump’s crypto interests comes as his administration is widely expected to usher in a “golden age” for cryptocurrencies, in stark contrast to the regulatory scrutiny the industry experienced under former President Joe Biden. Bitcoin hit a new record of $109,071 on inauguration day when Trump was sworn-in as the 47th U.S. President but later pared those gains and was last trading at $101,867.40.
