President-elect Trump Taking the $3.5 trillion cryptocurrency industry by surprise on Friday night, it announced the launch of its own cryptocurrency called the $TRUMP coin.

The release is on track to be one of the most successful in history.

In less than 24 hours, the value of $TRUMP rose from just a few cents to $33.87, representing a staggering price increase of over 18,000%. The token's price has since fallen to around $26 with a market cap of over $5 billion, putting it in the top 30. the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world.

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The announcement comes days before Trump's inauguration on Monday. The opening of the coin was announced by Trump himself Truth Social and X accounts on Friday at 9:45 p.m. ET, as industry bigwigs celebrate his return to office at the first Crypto Ball Washington, DC

Trump promises to be the most crypto-friendly president in history and has vowed to abolish it of the Biden administration regulatory pressures on the sector, which resulted in many US companies moving their operations offshore.

Among the participants of the ball were the CEOs of various cryptocurrency platforms, politicians, several members of Trump's new Cabinet of Ministers and his son Donald Trump Jr.

President-elect Trump rings the opening bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, 2024 in New York. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/Getty Images)

When the news broke, many participants were skeptical, assuming the president-elect's accounts had been hacked. Donald Trump Jr., presumably aware of the announcement, was sequestered in an exclusive VIP section. It is unclear if he spoke to anyone there about the token launch.

“My NEW Official Trump Meme IS HERE! It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community,” the post said Adding a link to a website where visitors can buy tokens with a debit card or crypto.

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Trump has not commented on the coin since the initial announcement. His son Eric Trump wrote X Saturday afternoon that the coin is “the hottest digital meme on earth.” The president-elect's son's comments were reposted on his X account.

Two spokespeople for Trump's transition team did not respond to requests for comment.

A coin with the ticker TRUMP is known as a “meme coin,” a type of highly speculative cryptocurrency that has no utility and is often created as a joke or parody, such as $PEPE, an image of a cartoon frog with a market cap of over $7 billion.

Sophisticated investors are often wary of meme coins, not just because of their price volatility, but also because of their tendency to be associated with scammers looking to make a quick buck from overzealous investors. Last month, social media influencer Haliey Welch, known as the “Hawk Tuah Girl,” was sued by investors when the price of a meme coin called $HAWK crashed within hours of its launch, causing huge investor losses.

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According to the coin's website, affiliates of the Trump Organization, CIC Digital LLC, and Fight Fight Fight LLC jointly own 80% of the coins in circulation, meaning owners will see significant gains as the token's price rises. The website doesn't specifically mention who will make the profit.

However, the fact that Trump is making money from retail investors could raise red flags for regulators and senators like Elizabeth Warren, a fierce critic of the crypto industry, and Trump himself.

Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference on July 27, 2024 in Nashville. (Brett Carlsen/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Last summer, another meme coin, $DJT, allegedly linked to the president-elect, was launched on the Solana blockchain. The coin was created by convicted fraudster “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, not Trump or his son Barron, as Shkreli claims.

Trump's statement has received mixed reviews so far. Some of his loyal fans in the crypto community are praising the move, saying it promotes the Solana blockchain and is likely to bring new users to the crypto space and want to have the badge of the first crypto-friendly president.

Others have openly criticized it, some even calling it a gratuitous cash grab by Trump, who took millions from the crypto industry in exchange for promises of deregulation and made America the “cryptocurrency of the planet.”

But major exchanges like Kraken already make the token available for trading on their platforms. It is unclear whether Coinbase, the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, will follow suit.

Meanwhile, investors in Trump's token have already reaped huge gains from the rapid price increase. According to financial newsletter The Kobeissi Letter, one trader made $1.1 million from an initial investment of $150,000, while another turned $800 into $310,000.

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“Whether you agree with this move or not, the point is that the leader of the free world just put his stamp of approval on Solana and meme culture,” said Frank Chaparro, the cryptocurrency publication's director of special projects. Block.

Perhaps coincidentally, Trump chose to introduce the meme coin on SEC Chairman Gary Gensler's last day in office.

Gensler, who has struggled with digital assets, will be replaced by Paul Atkins, a lawyer Trump has chosen to be more suited to cryptocurrencies.