Trump’s new crypto brand jumps ahead of his inauguration By Reuters

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s newly minted cryptocurrency soared on Monday to a record $9 billion in market value, drawing billions in trading volume just hours before returning to the U.S. President-elect in the White House.

The meme coin, also known as $TRUMP, rose 73% to $46.06 during Asian hours on Monday, giving it a market capitalization of about $9.2 billion, to follow CoinMarketCap. Its 24-hour trading volume reached $42.2 billion.

Trump had launched on Friday a digital token marked with the image of his assassination attempt in July, expanding his cryptocurrency interests which now include World Liberty Financial.

Even participants in the cryptocurrency community were surprised by the launch of Trump’s meme coin.

“Although it is an attempt to dismiss this issue as another Trump show, the launch of the official Trump brand opens Pandora’s box of ethical and regulatory questions (OTC :),” said Justin D Anethan, an independent crypto analyst. Hong Kong.

While the coin represented the unification of the world of decentralized finance (DeFi) in the political arena, it also “blurred the line between governance, profit and influence,” said D’Anethan.

“Do public people, especially those with such political activity, should use this type of speculative markets? That is a question that managers cannot ignore,” he said.

Peter Schiff, chief economist and global strategist at Euro Pacific Asset Management, pointed to the jump in the value of $ TRUMP and called it the new digital gold, on the messaging platform X.

Trump has promised to be the “crypto president”, and is expected to issue executive orders aimed at reducing crypto regulatory roadblocks and promoting the adoption of digital assets.

He is due to assume the presidency at noon ET (1700 GMT) on Monday.

The hope that there are loose rules around crypto policy has been met with fanfare by the industry and was turbocharged rally bitcoin after Trump’s election victory in November.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency last traded 2.6% lower at $101,826.51 on Monday, and is up more than 10% for the month so far.