Justin Sun of Tron announces plans to purchase an additional $100 million in Trump’s memecoin.
Justin Sun, founder of the blockchain platform Tron, poses for a photograph in Hong Kong, May 8, 2020. Calvin Sit | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun is acquiring another $100 million worth of $TRUMP, effectively doubling his total known stake in digital coins associated with President Donald Trump. Sun, who established the TRON blockchain and is currently working to resolve a civil fraud case with the Securities and Exchange Commission, announced the purchase of the $TRUMP token in an X post on Wednesday. He mentioned that the Trump-linked digital coins will soon be tradeable on the TRON network.
“$TRUMP on TRON is the currency of #MAGA,” Sun stated. This marks a significant endorsement during a crucial time for political meme tokens.
The $TRUMP token, with 80% of its holdings controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliated entities, has become a key component of the family’s growing crypto portfolio. The “End Crypto Corruption Act,” introduced by Senate Democrats earlier this year, aims to prevent elected officials and senior executive branch personnel from issuing or endorsing digital assets.
Since its launch in January, the $TRUMP coin has experienced considerable price fluctuations, peaking at a $15 billion market cap on its first day before dropping to about $2 billion as of July. In contrast, the complementary $MELANIA token has decreased more than 90% from its initial offering price in January to less than $141 million.
However, such price volatility has proven beneficial for business. The $TRUMP token’s code automatically directs a fee from each transaction to wallets associated with its creators. Between January and April alone, those wallets generated over $324 million in trading revenue, according to Chainalysis. The blockchain analytics firm has since stopped tracking this metric, citing other obligations to clients.
