The Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, a cryptocurrency endeavor linked to former US President Donald Trump, has reportedly resulted in substantial profits, reaching into the millions of dollars, for cryptocurrency exchanges and its originators.
Approximately half a year after its initial release, the TRUMP digital asset has generated a minimum of $172 million in trading commissions for a selection of 10 cryptocurrency exchanges. Noteworthy platforms include Binance, Coinbase, and OKX, among others, according to a Reuters report published on Monday.
Reports indicate that some exchanges chose to list TRUMP despite the understanding that a significant portion, around 80%, of the total coin supply was controlled by the Trump family and associated partners. A concentration of this scale had previously been considered a potential concern for exchanges.
The report also highlights that while approximately 45 crypto wallets realized profits of around $1.2 billion from TRUMP transactions, the majority of users, numbering 712,777, collectively sustained losses amounting to at least $4.3 billion.
TRUMP Listed Faster Than Other Memecoins
The Reuters analysis emphasized a noteworthy difference in the time taken by exchanges to list TRUMP in comparison to other popular memecoins such as Pepe (PEPE), Bonk (BONK), and dogwifhat (WIF).
The study encompassed the following centralized cryptocurrency exchanges (CEXs): Binance, Gate.io, Bitget, MEXC, OKX, Coinbase, Bybit, Upbit, Crypto.com, and HTX.
The report stated that “On average, the 10 exchanges required 129 days to list the competitor coins mentioned above. By contrast, it only took an average of four days for them to list TRUMP.” Bitget, Coinbase, and MEXC explained that their swift action was due to the “overwhelming demand” observed for the Trump-related coin.
Coinbase’s Decision Made in a Single Day
While the majority of exchanges required approximately four days to list TRUMP, Coinbase is said to have made its determination in just one day.
Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal was quoted as stating, “Given the information accessible to the public, we felt confident that users could interact with the token positively and safely.”
He also indicated that Coinbase classified the memecoin as an “experimental” token, a designation used to communicate the “certain risks, including price swings” associated with the asset.
Although Coinbase moved quickly to list TRUMP, restrictions were subsequently implemented to prevent residents of certain US locations from trading the memecoin.
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Reportedly, Coinbase restricted access to TRUMP for New York residents due to possible risks arising from a warning issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) on January 16th, the day preceding TRUMP’s launch. The warning related to the risks of sentiment-based virtual currencies.
The NYDFS characterized memecoins as “sentiment-based virtual currencies” and emphasized potential risks such as consumer losses, wash trading, pump-and-dump schemes, and other market manipulation tactics.
Several exchanges examined, including MEXC and Bitget, acknowledged that they disregarded previous concerns regarding TRUMP’s supply concentration to meet market demand.
Bitget CEO Gracy Chen is reported to have stated, “Eighty percent held by the team, even with a small lock-up period, is, in my opinion, very risky.” She further commented, “Ultimately, user trading volume, demand […] overrode the so-called risky factor here.”
The recently published figures regarding CEXs’ profits from TRUMP follow an earlier estimation by the Financial Times, which suggested that the memecoin’s creators earned at least $314 million from sales and $36 million from Solana fees within approximately three months of its launch.
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