An unverified report suggesting that former President Donald Trump is behind a new cryptocurrency has sent the Solana-based DJT token soaring, while other politically themed memecoins have plummeted.
On Monday night, the Pirate Wires publication posted on X that Trump was launching an “official token” with the ticker DJT, allegedly spearheaded by his youngest son, Barron Trump. The Block has reached out to the Trump campaign and the Trump Organization for comment but has yet to receive a response.
The X account’s claim initially raised suspicions of a hack, particularly after Pirate Wires’ editor-in-chief, Mike Solana (no relation to the Solana blockchain platform), responded to the post with the token’s contract address. Notably, the DJT token had already launched on May 21.
“Getting a lot of inbound here,” Solana wrote on his personal X account. “No, didn’t speak with Trump directly, assumed this was clear (text me though, Mr. President). Also assume he could rug pull, or pivot, say it’s not true. Just reporting what I know via sources.”
Since the post, DJT has skyrocketed 385% over the past 24 hours to $0.02516, with over $363 million in trading volume, according to GeckoTerminal. Solana, who is also the chief marketing officer of venture capital firm Founders Fund, expressed surprise at the reaction to his report, stating, “Never touching crypto news again. All of you people are insane.”
Meanwhile, the broader Political Finance (PolitiFi) memecoin market cap has decreased by 33% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko. MAGA (TRUMP), the second-largest PolitiFi coin by market cap ($301 million), has dropped 38% during the same period. These coins are not officially affiliated with Trump.
Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for the upcoming presidential election, has recently softened his stance on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. He hosted several bitcoin mining executives at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida and expressed a desire for all remaining bitcoin to be produced in the United States.