decrypt.co
A month-old DJT meme coin on Solana is seeing a flood of trading activity and a massive price spike as Crypto Twitter zeroed in on unsubstantiated rumors that former U.S. president Donald Trump is launching an official token by the same name.
While Trump has taken overt steps to court the cryptocurrency community, this latest claim was instigated by The Pirate Wires account on Twitter on Monday and was briefly labeled with a “community note” declaring it "fake news"—though as of this writing, the note is not currently showing on the tweet.
The Pirate Wires’ Editor-in-Chief Mike Solana, also CMO at venture capital firm Founders Fund though not officially tied to the Solana blockchain network, clarified that he “didn't speak with Trump directly” and that he was “just reporting what I know via sources.”
The publication's tweet also originally suggested that Trump's 18-year-old son Barron would be "spearheading" the token project.
getting a lot of inbound here. no, didn't speak with trump directly, assumed this was clear (text me though, mr. president). also assume he could rug pull, or pivot, say it's not true. just reporting what I know via sources. https://t.co/rGEukksUMs
— Mike Solana (@micsolana) June 17, 2024
The tweets nonetheless sparked a frenzy around a Solana token labeled DJT, singled out in replies to the rumor tweets by other Crypto Twitter users. The otherwise unremarkable token—among dozens invoking Trump's name—has subsequently taken off.
The DJT Solana token, which launched on April 21 and saw a one-day spike in trading on June 1, has now logged over $129 million in trading volume across more than 26,000 transactions in just 24 hours, according to GeckoTerminal.
In that span, its price—which is extremely volatile minute to minute—has frequently doubled. Doubled to the tidy sum of over $0.015 per token, as of this writing. There was a flash price spike to $0.37 late Monday, however.
With a current total market cap of $155 million, the unsubstantiated DJT token is unlikely to move markets, and is most likely to follow the flash-and-crash cycle of most celebrity meme coins. But Trump's name has been a fairly reliable driver of crypto market interest, whether via sales of his official NFTs or tribute tokens like MAGA. Both Trump and current U.S. president Joe Biden have inspired a litany of tokens.
A week ago, Trump reportedly declared that he would be a "crypto president" at a fundraiser in tech-friendly San Francisco. The possible role of crypto in the upcoming U.S. presidential election is drawing greater scrutiny, with Biden reportedly preparing to attend a Bitcoin roundtable next month.
Neither the Trump campaign nor representatives from Trump's media company immediately responded to a request for comment from Decrypt.
Edited by Andrew Hayward