Donald Trump’s meme coin, $TRUMP, has generated significant revenue and controversy since its launch in January 2025. Within the first two weeks, the coin amassed between $86 million and $100 million in trading fees, primarily through decentralized exchanges like Meteora, where fees are collected from each transaction via liquidity pools . The coin’s creators, including CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC—entities linked to the Trump Organization—control 80% of the token’s supply, which is scheduled to unlock over the next three years .
The $TRUMP coin’s popularity surged following the announcement of exclusive events for top holders, including a dinner with Trump for the top 220 investors and a private reception for the top 25. The top four holders were also promised $100,000 Trump-themed watches . These incentives have raised ethical concerns, with critics arguing that they resemble “pay-to-play” schemes, potentially allowing wealthy individuals or foreign entities to gain undue influence over the president .
Despite Trump’s claims of detachment from the coin’s financial dealings, citing an ethics agreement, his team’s active promotion of the coin and the significant profits generated have led to calls for investigations into potential conflicts of interest and violations of the U.S. Constitution’s emoluments clauses .
In summary, while the $TRUMP meme coin has proven financially lucrative for its creators and top investors, it has also sparked bipartisan concerns over ethics, transparency, and the potential for corruption.
Trump announced his coin on January 18, a few days prior to his inauguration. At the time, he pitched it as a memecoin, a type of asset whose only purpose is to enable financial speculation. The price of memecoins tends to whipsaw dramatically with swings in public sentiment toward the person, meme, or concept they are based upon.
The dinner gambit puts the TRUMP coin in a different class entirely. In establishing an explicit quid pro quo—a large investment in exchange for an audience—the maneuver has effectively turned TRUMP into a utility coin, an asset that bestows on holders some perk or advantage.
