Trump Media stock falls after Trump’s conviction, but a MAGA meme coin is soaring A meme coin that is not directly affiliated with Trump has seen its value jump by nearly 80% in the past week. Trump Media stock falls after Trump’s conviction, but a MAGA meme coin is soaring [Photos: Spencer Platt/Getty Images, stux/Pixabay] BY CHRIS MORRIS 2 MINUTE READ Wall Street doesn’t seem too happy with the guilty verdict in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, but the crypto world doesn’t seem to have a problem with the former president becoming a felon. ADVERTISEMENT The MAGA coin, a cryptocurrency that is not directly affiliated with Trump, was rising Friday, posting gains as high as 15% before falling back to about 3% by midday, according to CoinMarketCap. That brings the meme coin’s market cap to around $670 million. Over the past week, the crypto has jumped nearly 80%, with the climb starting in earnest over the weekend. While it could easily be confused as a Trump product, the MAGA coin, which trades under the symbol TRUMP, was not launched by the former president. But that’s not stopping traders from using the MAGA coin as a speculative bet on his campaign. Trump has started to more broadly embrace cryptocurrencies in recent weeks. Earlier this week, his campaign said it would accept donations in Bitcoin, Ether, Dogecoin, and Shiba Inu. Meanwhile, CoinDesk, last Wednesday, reported a wallet that is supposedly linked to Trump holds the MAGA meme coin with a current value of close to $9 million. (The holding gained over $1 million in value on Friday alone.) It is unclear whether the wallet actually belongs to Trump. The Trump organization did not respond to a request for comment. That wallet was given $7,100 of the MAGA coin by the developers between August and October of last year. The MAGA meme coins are an “experiment” in PoliFi (a fusion of politics and finance) according to marketing director Steven Steele, a YouTube talk show host (who appears to be an ardent Trump supporter, based on his social media posts). Steele said in a past interview that price spikes have occurred in conjunction with major events surrounding Trump. The MAGA coin is, in some ways, akin to a prediction market, letting people bet on future events. But because it’s also a traded crypto, the returns can be higher (or lower, depending on how things turn out). There is also a Joe Biden meme coin, but it has failed to resonate with the crypto community. (You’d need more than 3.8 billion Biden coins to have the total holdings add up to $1.) Regardless of how the election plays out, the MAGA coin won’t necessarily go away after November 5. Trump’s rebellious personality could speak to the crypto world, keeping the coin relevant with investors. The coin has caught the attention of some higher profile investors, as well. Venture capital firm Mechanism Capital has bought the MAGA coin. Trump is almost certain to be a regular presence on television and other forms of media for the next several months, which Mechanism cofounder Andrew Kang said makes it interesting. “This bet is not just on whether Trump wins or not,” Kang wrote on X/Twitter in February. “There’s risks with all shitcoins, but it should also be pointed out that the main risk here is that Trump himself dumps all his $TRUMP . . . and disavows the coin. . . . Overall, this is the first meme coin I’ve seen that I believe can rival Doge/Shib.” Trump has had his feet in the cryptocurrency pond for a couple years now. In 2022, he announced a series of Trump NFT trading cards, featuring images of him as a cowboy, astronaut, superhero, Nascar drive, and more. The value of those has plunged over time. As the price of MAGA crypto rose Friday, shares of Trump Media, which Trump more directly benefits from, were down more than 5%.
