Dem
47
GOP
53
Last week, we noted that Donald Trump personally made over $1 billion on his crypto coin. Family members and cronies also made out like bandits.
Where did the money come from? As usual, it was the rubes investors thinking anything involving Trump was
bound to be successful. So, they ponied up their hard-earned dollars in the hopes of making a killing. However, that's
not how it works with Trump. A cryptocurrency firm has now
reported
that there were almost a million people who bought Trump coins and lost money and their collective losses were $3.8
billion. That comes to an average loss of about $3,800, most likely from people who can ill afford such losses. Some
people lost more. Crypto trader Nicholas Pinto, a Trump voter, put $500,000 into the $TRUMP coin. He has now lost half
of it.
How much someone lost depends on when they got in and how much they paid for the coins. The high for $TRUMP was $75.35. On Friday it closed at $1.76, so anyone who bought at the peak lost 97% of his or her investment. Trump's gain had to come from somewhere, of course. Insiders and others who got in early also did great. They know that during the first hours of trading, meme coins tend to shoot up to unsustainable values. They buy early and sell early, leaving others holding the bag (of coins).
The SEC has abandoned all enforcement of meme coin trading, so Trump is safe until Jan. 20, 2029. However, after that, there could be a class-action lawsuit from people who feel he duped them in encouraging them to buy the coin. (V)