China-based Trump memecoin investors made millions while average 'roadkill' investors lost

In a social media post on January 17 — three days before his inauguration — Donald Trump announced, "My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to http://gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!"

According to the New York Times' Eric Lipton, a "small group of crypto insiders and other early investors" made "millions of dollars" from the Trump memecoin and "inflated" its price — whereas "many average investors who came late to the game have lost money."

Lipton explains how that happened in a video posted on the Times' website on February 9.

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"What we see is a pattern that has become relatively common with memecoins, a form of virtual currency that typically is based on an internet joke," Lipton reports. "Memecoins have no inherent value. They're essentially collectables that people speculate on and push up the price — and then, it crashes."

According to Lipton, the New York Times "found that there were approximately 30 wallets or 30 buyers that were really sophisticated in their strategy here" — and that "a number of them appear to be based in China."

"Those buyers exited with more than $650 million in profits for two days of play, when all these other, more normal people…. are just sort of roadkill that are buying off the tokens that these savvy investors have purchased from the get-go," Lipton observes in the video. "The Trump family and its partners have already made, at least on paper, approximately $100 million simply in transaction fees…. The thing that's just so surprising is that the family of the president-elect, and now president, would be involved in such a truly speculative — and to some extent, potentially, you could say exploitive, financial instrument."

Lipton continues, "Just as the president's power is expanding and he's naming the new chairpersons of the various bodies that will set policies about what's wright and wrong, ethics lawyers and former financial regulators are really bothered by that."

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Watch the full video at this link (subscription required).