Will Donald Trump really launch an official currency?

There is no official confirmation as to whether DJT in Solana is linked to Donald Trump's campaign, but there are several reasons why the former president could be tempted.

Donald Trump criticized central bank digital currencies, opened the door to accepting crypto donations, and even called for all remaining bitcoin to be mined in the US.

But there is another rumor circulating that has In fact had the crypto community spinning: whether or not the Republican candidate will launch his own token.

For some time now, there has been a flood of memecoins inspired by the presidential campaign. Perhaps one of the best known is MAGA, a nod to his old slogan “Make America Great Again,” which trades under the symbol TRUMP.

However, right now there is particular focus on a rival called TrumpCoin, which uses the symbol DJT and is based on the Solana blockchain. On Monday night, independent media company Pirate Wires posted on x:

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This sparked frantic speculation and quite a bit of skepticism, especially considering that no source was provided for this information.

But FOX Business added fuel to the fire after confirming that crypto sources had said that those with close ties to Trump “have been planning to launch a digital currency for at least two months.”

There has been no comment yet from anyone within the Trump campaign about how true any of this is. But Vivek Ramaswamy, who has potentially been touted as a possible running mate and vice presidential candidate, told the media outlet:

“I'm glad that President Trump and his campaign are leaning toward, even embracing, cryptocurrencies—he's ahead of the curve. Embracing cryptocurrencies will help Trump continue to bring in libertarians and outlier Republicans – it’s a winning issue.”

Vivek Ramaswamy

With the emergence of a huge black hole of information, it has been fascinating to see how the markets reacted and tried to digest this news.

TRUMP, which launched late last year, has been especially hard hit by signs that a rival tab officially sanctioned by the former president is on the horizon.

It was trading at $10.72 at 22:07 UTC on Monday night, which is when Pirates Wires first published its gossip. Just five hours later, it had fallen to lows of $5.78, down 46%.

Meanwhile, DJT on Solana, with a symbol that matches that of his publicly traded company Truth Social, has witnessed an astronomical rise during the same period.

The latest data from SolScan suggests that the token is currently trading at $0.0237 and has a market capitalization of $237 million, with supply just shy of 10 billion tokens and 11,126 holders.

What makes all of this even stranger is that those who are supposed to be in the know don't seem to be forthcoming with confirmation.

Messari founder Ryan Selkis took a cautious tone, saying:

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And even Pirate Wires editor-in-chief Mike Solana, who strangely and coincidentally shares his name with the blockchain the coin is supposedly based on, suggested he won't provide any more information after his “scoop”:

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The love-or-hate figure, Martin Shkreli, seems much more convinced of the legitimacy of the memecoin:

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What we know

Trump needs money, especially given a series of recent setbacks. He was ordered to pay $454 million following a ruling in a recent fraud case, but this was reduced to a $175 million bail while he appeals that verdict.

And although Truth Social shares rose substantially when they initially launched on Wall Street, lock-up provisions mean you can't withdraw your stake until October at the earliest. Meanwhile, stock prices have been taking a bit of a hit:

In theory, launching an official Trump currency could be the next logical step in unlocking capital from his supporters, but a lack of liquidity could make it difficult to withdraw cash without major price drops, and this could also get him into trouble with the second.

And it's also worth noting that the Trumps have had connections to Solana before. His wife Melania has repeatedly launched nft collections on this blockchain.

Either way, we won't have to wait long to find out if this supposedly official currency is fact or fiction.