Pump And Dump

On the evening of January 17 president-elect Trump and his family started selling a block chain crypto meme token featuring an image of him lifted from the July assassination attempt.  

Disclosed mere days before his second inauguration this venture is the latest in a long line of hustles to monetize his followers and enrich his family.  It is yet another sign that the Trumps will take every opportunity in his second term to push the edge of the self-dealing envelope. 
The Trump meme coin is his latest and likely most successful yet.  

You're likely wondering why the President is laughing all the way to the bank.

photo credit - Al Jazeera

That's because if you borrowed against your 401K, mortgaged your home, cashed-in all your frumpy, dumpy, boring stocks, bonds and mutual funds and purchased as many Trump meme coins as you could get your hands-on there's a possibility you made a killing.  As well, there is a possibility your got your ass kicked.  Further evidence that PT Barnum was prescient.  

Only moments following the president-elect posting on his social media account that his family had issued a crypto currency named $Trump a trade was placed.  In the amount of $1,096,109, from a crypto wallet with a unique identification code beginning with 6QSc2Cx, someone acquired a boatload of the Trump tokens - 5,971,750 to be exact - at the opening price of 18 cents apiece.  This launched a run up in the price of $Trump that would swell to $75 a token.

With a balance of only 25 tokens remaining this anonymous trader pocketed as much a $109 million according to an analysis performed for The New York Times.

The front-end profits for the unidentified early traders, including possibly some from China, was at the expense of the much larger number of schmucks late to the game who lost more than $2 billion following the crash of the token's price. 

While trading in the meme coin space is relatively new - what is described in the preceding paragraph is as old as the hills.  In the vernacular of the stock-trading world this is known as Pump and Dump - with early traders pumping-up the price and them dumping their positions as less sophisticated individuals get in late to the game.  Illegal in a regulated market this scam is all to common in the unregulated crypto world. 

It is one thing for the Trump family to profit from crypto trading; it is also worth noting that the President holds executive sway over the relevant federal regulatory world.  Rolling-back victim protections and enforcement is one thing; leaving the fox to guard the hen house is altogether another.  

Coincidentally, only ten days ago The Lever reported that the Trump administration issued a blanket ethics waiver to venture capitalist David Sacks, now the president's special advisor for artificial intelligence and crypto, clearing him to work on regulatory issues directly related to his financial holdings.  The waiver comes a month after President Trump fired the Senate-confirmed director of the Office of Government Ethics - the independent agency responsible for enforcing federal ethics laws. 

'I am granting you a waiver...of any conflict of interest regarding particular matters of general applicability concerning the digital asset industry' - reads the March 5 memo from White House Counsel David Warrington.

The creation of a financial instrument facilitating the transfer of money to the president's family in connection with his office interests me.  The Trump meme coin is ideally suited as a mechanism for, hypothetically-speaking, special interests or a foreign government to influence the President and his family.  

The fact that his office's regulatory actions may now shield or insulate him from both scrutiny and consequences interests me even more.

How about you?

The Grift

Last Friday evening president-elect Trump and his family started selling a block chain crypto meme token featuring an image of him lifted from the July assassination attempt.  

Added to a long line of steaks, burgers, foot long wieners, chocolate, water, ice, beer, vitamins, wine, vodka, board games, video games, more than a half-dozen books, hats, mugs, key chains, travel booking, energy drinks, office furniture, women and menswear, flags, bar ware, life size cardboard cutouts, watches, perfumes, colognes, sneakers, bibles, digital trading cards and unsigned guitars. 

The Trump meme coin is his latest merch push and really raises the bar.

Disclosed mere days before his second inauguration this venture is the latest in a long line of hustles to monetize his followers and enrich his family.  It is yet another sign that the Trumps will take every opportunity in his second term to push the edge of the self-dealing envelope.

The $Trump token is being sold thru CIC Digital LLC an affiliate of the Trump Organization pitching the slogan: Join the Trump community!  This is history in the making!

Accompanied by multiple disclaimers disavowing anything to do with any political campaign, political office or government agency the website says that the Trump meme tokens are for entertainment purposes only, are not intended to be seen as an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type. They are expected to function as an expression of support for and engagement with the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol $TRUMP.  In a pitch promoting the meme token, Trump told his supporters to; Have Fun!

Eric Trump had this to say; I am extremely proud of what we continue to accomplish in crypto.  $Trump is currently the hottest digital meme on earth.  This is just the beginning.

Trump tokens are not currency, they are not backed by anything tangible, they have no intrinsic value.  Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum Tesla won't accept them for the purchase of a vehicle and cartels and crime syndicates won't take them in trade either.  Commonly, these coin tokens have been created as a joke inspired by internet memes and animal cartoons.  Next to worthless, they're  traded as a hobby.  In this instance, 80% of the coin tokens are controlled by the Trump organization while 20% have been offered for sale to the public.  You tell me who is The House and who is The Mark?

Attracted by the lure of easy wealth by means of a  pyramid scheme,  Trump business opportunity, trading of these meme coins on cryptocurrency markets began on Saturday immediately driving up the value of Trump tokens.  

Not surprisingly, the creation of a financial instrument facilitating the transfer money to the president's family in connection with his office has ethics lawyers pulling their hair out.  

It's also caught the attention of the crypto world with some in the crypto industry criticizing the token.  Nick Tomaino, crypto venture capitalist and former executive at Coinbase, wrote on social media; Trump owning 80% and timing launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it.

Just between you and me I think the Trump meme coin could also be a mechanism for special interests and foreign governments to engage in influence peddling with the in-coming president.  But I digress.  

I'd be willing to bet that a few of you reading this post would tell me to my face I'm full of beans and simply meddling in another wildly successful Trump business enterprise.  I disagree about the matter of meddling as I happen to place a high value on free will.  A fool and his money are soon parted after all.

A challenge to my detractors:  If you embrace the veracity of this opportunity you might consider mortgaging your home or cashing-in all your frumpy, dumpy, boring stocks, bonds and mutual funds and purchase as many Trump meme coins as you can get your hands-on.  

What's that you say?  

You want to sit it out?

I thought so.