Nah, they’ll adapt.
Trump’s shitcoin scam has now reached almost $60 Billion in 48 hours. No doubt he and his family are very excited. Some of his followers who understand what he’s doing are a little squeamish, however:
Yeah, “reputation” is no longer operative in GOP politics.
The $TRUMP memecoin — a financial asset that didn’t exist on Friday afternoon — now accounts for about 89% of Donald Trump’s net worth.
The coin (technically a token that’s issued on the Solana blockchain) has massively enriched Trump personally, enabled a mechanism for the crypto industry to funnel cash to him, and created a volatile financial asset that allows anyone in the world to financially speculate on Trump’s political fortunes.
- After another massive overnight rally, as of Sunday morning Trump’s crypto holdings were worth as much as $58 billion on paper, enough — with his other assets — to make him one of the world’s 25 richest people.
While the Biden administration broadly took the view that memecoins like $TRUMP are securities subject to SEC regulation, the incoming Trump administration has pledged to be much more crypto-friendly and to regulate such coins with a light or nonexistent touch.
The coin’s official website, GetTrumpMemes.com, urges visitors to buy coins with either dollars or crypto in order to “Celebrate Our Win & Have Fun!”
- The coin is “not intended to be… an investment opportunity,” per the site, which says that it “has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office.”
- That hasn’t stopped investors from making millions by speculating on the price of the coin, which was launched while Trump was reportedly hosting a “Crypto Ball” in Washington.
Some 200 million of the 1 billion total coins have already been released and are being actively traded. The rest, which are owned by Trump-controlled entities, will be able to be sold at various points over the next three years, starting in April.
- On average, Trump’s companies will be able to sell some 24 million coins per month into the market, which at current prices (which keep moving), would amount to an income of $1.73 billion per month, or $20.7 billion per year. (Although no one has a clue what the value of the coin will even be this afternoon, let alone three years from now.)
[…]
- Since then, Trump has listed a meme stock where he controls more than 50% of the shares — and, now, has a meme coin that’s even less tethered to reality.
- Both of them represent a much more direct way of funneling money to Trump than staying at his hotel did.
The emoluments clause of the Constitution, written in 1787, hardly envisaged a world where a president could conjure billions of dollars of wealth out of nowhere just by endorsing a meme.
- In the present day, it’s impossible to track who’s going to be buying this coin over the next three years and thereby directing their money directly at Trump.
- Given the Supreme Court’s expansive view of presidential immunity, there’s a good chance that any such action will be deemed lawful.
They conclude: “The bottom line: Trump has just delivered a masterclass in the ability of a president to turn power into wealth.”
Nothing to see here folks.
Trump will be overseeing this arcane, new market that very few average people understand much less participate in. He is making himself into one of the richest men in the world right before our eyes.
This must be that populism everyone’s talking about.