Trump's Coin Launch: An $80 Billion "Crypto Masterclass"
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Trump's Coin Launch: An $80 Billion "Crypto Masterclass"
From NFTs and DeFi to Memes, the Trump family are the true masters of Crypto.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Zhou Zhou, Foresight News
Former U.S. President Donald Trump launched an official "presidential coin," TRUMP, which in less than two days reached a market cap exceeding $80 billion.
This event will undoubtedly go down in history. For both crypto practitioners and observers, the "Trump token incident" serves as an excellent opportunity to update and reshape our understanding of the cryptocurrency industry.
As a participant and observer, I began tracking this event around 10:50 a.m. on January 18 (when the TRUMP token was valued at about $3 billion) and concluded my initial observation phase by the evening of January 19 (by which time the TRUMP token had reached an $80 billion valuation). Throughout this period, I witnessed the entire explosive journey of the "presidential coin" and engaged in extensive discussions with other crypto professionals. Here, I attempt to summarize and document these observations and insights.
Presidential Crypto Lesson One: Opportunities Are On-Chain
If you don't use DEX (decentralized exchange) products like Phantom, Jupiter, or Uniswap, you likely missed out on the TRUMP opportunity. If your on-chain capital was insufficient, you probably didn’t achieve significant returns from this event either.
The Trump token launch marks a highly symbolic turning point, signaling an irreversible trend: the center of gravity in cryptocurrency is rapidly shifting from CEX (centralized exchanges) to DEX (decentralized exchanges).
Within a day and a half of its launch—and before any major centralized exchange listed the token—TRUMP reached a $50 billion market cap. Data shows that in January 2024, DEX trading volume accounted for only 9.3% of CEX volume; by January 2025, this figure had risen to 17.6%. These numbers indicate that DEXs are becoming the primary gathering ground for crypto participants.
Additionally, the decentralized perpetuals exchange Hyperliquid outperformed many centralized exchanges during this event. Hyperliquid was the first platform to list TRUMP perpetual contracts, launching them around 1 p.m. on January 18—just three hours after the token's emergence—when TRUMP’s market cap was approximately $10 billion (peaking at $80 billion the following day). The contract for First Lady Melania’s token, MELANIA, was deployed around 10 a.m. on January 20, completing setup in under five hours—a remarkable speed for capitalizing on trending tokens.
Essential Crypto Tools: Phantom, Jupiter, Uniswap
Presidential Crypto Lesson Two: In the World of Crypto, Speed Is Supreme
The TRUMP token went live around 10 a.m. on January 18 at approximately $0.18. By the evening of January 19, it peaked at $80—a gain of over 400x.
To succeed during this window, one needed not only rapid detection but also swift decision-making to secure early, low-cost positions.
The most successful traders bought TRUMP before 10:30 a.m., including notable figures like 0xSun, Dayu, and Yuyue. A common trait among them? They monitor “smart money” on-chain activity. This habit enables them to spot opportunities fastest. Real-time tracking of smart-money wallets requires tools such as GMGN, Debot, and Vector. Technically proficient users often write custom scripts to monitor key wallet addresses directly.
Spotting the opportunity is just step one—decision-making is step two.
During the Trump token event, two platforms were critical for making buy decisions: Twitter and Moonshot. The official Trump Twitter account posted at 10:44 a.m., confirming the event’s legitimacy. Moonshot listed the token at 1.21 USD, further validating its authenticity and significance. This timeframe represented the main window through which most participants could realistically act.
Essential Crypto Tools: GMGN, Vector, Debot, Twitter, Moonshot
Presidential Crypto Lesson Three: Mindset Determines Position Size, Tools Determine Execution Speed
Mindset determines position size. Some entered early but with small amounts and exited prematurely; others entered later but with substantial on-chain funds or cross-chain capabilities, enabling bold, large-scale bets. Ultimately, these factors determined outcomes.
When TRUMP hit a $5 billion market cap, some questioned its legitimacy, while others already believed it would surpass Dogecoin’s $60 billion valuation. Some doubted whether on-chain liquidity could absorb $60 billion in new tokens within two days, while others recognized the vast difference between TRUMP’s market cap and FDV (fully diluted valuation).
If you lacked sufficient SOL on-chain and couldn’t use cross-chain tools like UniversalX to convert ETH into SOL, you likely missed out on major gains. If you failed to realize TRUMP could surpass DOGE, you likely missed the biggest upside. If you didn’t notice TRUMP draining liquidity from other cryptocurrencies, you likely missed peak momentum. If you overlooked the massive gap between market cap and FDV, you likely sold too early. If you underestimated the global cultural resonance and crossover potential of a sitting U.S. president launching a meme coin—or viewed TRUMP merely as another trivial meme—you probably missed the largest part of the rally. Tools determine how fast assets move; cognition determines how much you commit.
Essential Crypto Tools: UniversalX, GMGN, CoinMarketCap
Presidential Crypto Lesson Four: The Meaning of Memes
After Trump launched his token, many crypto influencers criticized him for abusing power and denounced memes as purely PVP (player-versus-player) games with no intrinsic value.
Yet perhaps nothing offers a fairer method of asset distribution than memes. While centralized exchanges continue to face issues like high listing fees, insider information leaks, and front-running in derivatives markets, meme coins remain the only relatively fair way to launch assets. As major blockchains increasingly allocate millions in marketing budgets, entrench complex interest groups, and raise barriers for emerging developers, memes stand out as the most trustworthy and equitable option available to all participants.
Prior to the rise of AI Agent narratives, memes struggled to find meaningful real-world applications. But with the emergence of AI Agents, people have realized that memes are simply a form of technological expression—their utility depends not on the meme itself, but on how humans choose to use them. Once AI Agents meet memes, practitioners begin seeing how memes can drive innovative and exciting developments.
Memes aren't perfect—but the old world is worse.
Essential Crypto Tools: Pump.fun, Clanker, Virtuals, ai16z
Final Thoughts
Donald Trump launching a meme coin is unprecedented—but certainly not the last of its kind. It has delivered an incredibly vivid lesson in cryptocurrency to everyone involved.
This episode made several trends unmistakably clear: DEXs are overtaking CEXs as the new epicenter of crypto; Solana is surpassing Ethereum as the leading blockchain; and memes are challenging VC-backed tokens, advocating for a more open and equitable model of token issuance.
This event also brought massive exposure to key products: Moonshot added 400,000 new users in a single day, reaching 1 million daily active users; UniversalX saw transaction volume spike to 20 times normal levels; the meme coin launch platform pump.fun generated nearly $400 million in annual revenue; Phantom processed over $1.25 billion in daily trading volume, handling more than 8 million requests per minute—pushing blockchain infrastructure to its limits.
The Trump token launch was far more than a simple fusion of politics and crypto—it became a crossover phenomenon bigger than Bitcoin breaking $100,000. It re-engaged countless individuals unfamiliar with crypto, drawing renewed public attention to the space. The story ranked seventh on Weibo’s trending topics, topped Douyin’s social news feed, made headlines across major U.S. media outlets, and triggered a surge in Google searches for "Bitcoin."
The impact of this $80-billion "Trump Crypto Open Course" continues to unfold.
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