Former US President Donald Trump, the likely Republican candidate for the 2024 election, is quite popular among crypto enthusiasts as he has called himself the “Crypto President” and aims to support the cryptocurrency ecosystem in the US if he wins. In the meantime, a meme token called DJT, minted two months ago on the Solana blockchain, has experienced intense trading activity due to rumors suggesting that the crypto is associated with Trump.

Here’s everything we know about the DJT token and what different crypto experts are saying about its association with the former President.

DJT Coin Has Soared on Rumors Of It Being Associated With Trump

Investor interest in DJT, also known as “Trump Coin,” surged in June. Data from CoinMarketCap shows a significant jump in trading volumes from June 4 to June 6. The coin has experienced another notable rise in trading volumes in the past day. Its price has more than doubled due to unfounded claims of being supported by Trump.

trump coin

The rumors were sparked by a tweet from Pirate Wires, a media outlet which said “Per conversations, Trump is launching an official token — $DJT on Solana.” It added that Trump’s son Barron is “spearheading” the project.

Mike Solana, the editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires and the CMO of venture capital firm Founders Fund, posted a smart contract address in a reply to his publication’s tweet “for visibility.”

However, in a more recent Tweet, he made it clear that he hadn’t spoken with Trump directly about his association with the coin.

No Outlet Has Confirmed that Trump Is Associated with DJT Coin

So far, Trump hasn’t confirmed or denied the reports that he is associated with the meme coin. Fox Business – a media outlet that has long been seen as friendly towards Trump – also could not confirm the rumors.

In its report, Fox Business said it “could not confirm if the token is directly or indirectly affiliated with Trump, but sources in the industry say people affiliated with the former president have been planning to launch a digital coin for at least two months.”

Ryan Selkis, who is a Trump supporter and founder of data provider Messari believes that the odds of Trump Coin being legit at “50-50” However, some cryptocurrency industry observers see the speculation around the coin as harmful to the industry.

For instance, David Bailey, who is the co-founder and chief executive officer of BTC Inc., and a board member at the Bitcoin Policy Institute, believes that if the rumors of Trump’s association with the DJT token turn out to be false, those behind these rumors should be “tarred and feathered and chased out or our (crypto) industry for good.”

It’s very possible that someone bought a ton of DJT and then started these rumors to inflate the price. It could have been someone within Trump’s circle, even if it doesn’t have the former president’s support, giving the claims more credibility.

Other Meme Coins Linked to Trump Crashed

To be sure, DJT – or Save America coin – is not the only meme crypto that’s trying to capitalize on the former President’s popularity, especially among his committed voters. We have other such cryptos, including Make America Great Again (MAGA) – that are following a similar strategy. Then there is the Solana-based Doland Tremp (TREMP) coin, though it’s often seen as a satirical movement making fun of Trump.

There are plenty of other Trump-related meme coins that don’t really have much of a message like TROG which carries a cartoon of a frog wearing a MAGA hat. Notably, while the DJT coin soared on rumors of it being backed by Trump, other coins inspired by the former President crashed.

Here it’s worth noting that MAGA nor TROG are not affiliated with Trump directly. However, according to blockchain research firm Arkham Intelligence, Trump owns a good number of MAGA and TROG tokens, that the token creator gifted him.

All said it seems unlikely that Trump would hide his association with DJT coin – if there was any. The former President is a businessman with a presence in several industries – most recently in social media – where he owns a majority stake in Trump Media & Technology Corp. The company, which houses Truth Social, incidentally trades under the ticker symbol “DJT.”

Also, with the looming fight with incumbent Joe Biden in the upcoming elections, it seems unlikely that Trump, who is anyways battling many legal battles, would deliberately hide his association with the Trump Coin. However, it’s possible that he wouldn’t want to be publicly connected with the meme coin as it may hurt his reputation or even get him into trouble for a pump and dump scheme. Nevertheless, it’s hard to imagine that the same man who openly sold tens of thousands of silly NFTs would cook up such a scheme.

Truth Social Stock Has Been Quite Volatile

Even if Trump has nothing to do with DJT token, he already owns a large portion massive meme asset: Trump Media & Technology Corp. ($DJT), the parent company of his social media platform, Truth Social. DJT, an extremely volatile meme stock, is trading above $30 even as it is less than half of its 52-week highs.

While the company commands a market cap of nearly $6 billion, its earnings (or, more accurately, losings) have been disappointing at best. In Q1 2024, the company’s revenues were below $1 million, but it reported a massive net loss of $327 million.

Truth Social, which was looking to capitalize on the angst among a section of conservatives who believe their voices were being stifled by other social media platforms, is struggling with growing its user base. With X (formerly Twitter) taking a more “friendly” approach towards conservatives under its new owner, Elon Musk, it remains to be seen how much traction Truth Social gains.

Coming back to meme coins, they are quite popular among a section of the market and dogecoin is the largest meme coin by market cap. As for the DJT coin, it might continue to be volatile as markets speculate whether it’s really associated with Trump.