A Trump-Themed Token Soars, Then Dives 95% After His Son Dashes Hope the Former President Backed It

A
newly
launched
cryptocurrency
on
Solana

(SOL)
called
Restore
the
Republic,
or
RTR,
which
was
rumored
to
be
the
official
token
of
Donald
Trump,
ballooned
to
$155
million
market
value
before
cratering
95%
on
Thursday
after
the
former
president’s
son
warned
that
his
father
doesn’t
yet
have
an
official
token.

Hopes
for
Donald
Trump’s
crypto
aspirations
were
kindled
earlier
this
week
when
Eric
Trump,
his
son,

tweeted
that
he
has
“fallen
in
love
with
Crypto
/
DeFi.
Stay
tuned
for
a
big
announcement.”
Then
on
Thursday,
Restore
the
Republic
began
trading,
soaring
to
a
$155
million
market
capitalization
just
hours
after
launch.

Ryan
Fournier,
conservative
activist
and
chair
of
Students
for
Trump,
amplified
the
hearsay,
saying
that
“rumor
has
it
that
the
official
trump
coin
is
out…called
Restore
the
Republic.”
That
post
on
X
has
since
been
deleted.

Subsequently,
Eric
Trump
popped
the
bubble
and
chaos
ensued.
He
warned
users
of
“fake
tokens”
and
said
that
the
“only
official
Trump
project
has
not
been
announced.”
The
post
sent
RTR
spiraling.
It
fell
95%
from
its
peak
price.

“I
was
told
by
sources
that
Don
Jr.
would
be
backing
this
token,”
Fournier

posted
on
X
on
Thursday.
“That
is
why
I
said
rumor.
I’m
not
a
big
crypto
guy
and
I
was
not
in
any
way
involved
in
this
project.”

Crypto
observers
also

pointed
to
evidence
that
Kanpai
Labs,
the
entity
behind
the
Kanpai
Pandas
non-fungible
tokens
(NFT),
boosted
the
token
with
advertisements
prior
to
the
launch.

Bags,
the
pseudonymous
creator
of
Kanpai,

said
the
Trump
family
picked
the
launch
date
then
“hard
rugged
us.”
That
post
was
deleted
soon
after.

Blockchain
data
shows
that
early
investors,
or
insiders,
made
$4
million
of
profits
in
six
hours
on
the
token’s
rise
and
fall,
onchain
sleuth
Lookonchain

found.
Five
crypto
wallets
bought
105
million
of
RTR
with
$882,000
worth
of
SOL,
then
sold
95
million
tokens
for
$5
million
in
SOL.

The
debacle
underscores
the
wild
west
nature
of
the
burgeoning
memecoin
market,
where
grifts
and

rug
pulls
abound.
Recently,
another
Trump-themed
token
DJT
was
in
the
spotlight
as
Martin
Shkreli
claimed
that
he
and
Donald
Trump’s
son
Barron
created
the
token.

DJT
tanked
90%
last
week
as
a
large
token
holder
appeared
to
sell
en
masse.

The
episode
also
highlights
Donald
Trump’s
sway
among
crypto
enthusiasts.
Analytics
firm
LunarCrush
said
that
there
are
currently
162
Trump
or
MAGA
(the
shortened
version
of
Trump’s
famous
campaign
slogan:
Make
America
Great
Again)
crypto
tokens,
up
from
111
two
weeks
ago.

UPDATE
(Aug.
8,
2024,
21:28
UTC):

Adds
blockchain
data
on
early
investors’
profits.