Donald Trump Denies Profiting from TRUMP Coin in NBC Interview

US President Donald Trump, in an interview with NBC News, stated that he does not profit from the meme coin TRUMP and “does not follow it.”

Journalist Kristen Welker’s question concerned the politician’s branding of his own cryptocurrency and criticism for using his position to promote the asset.

On January 18 — two days before the inauguration — Trump announced the launch of an “official” meme token on the Solana blockchain. The price of TRUMP rose to $77 within a day, and its FDV reached $62 billion. At the time of writing, the coin is trading about 85% below its all-time high.

On April 23, the announcement of a gala dinner for the top 220 TRUMP holders with the head of state boosted the token’s price by approximately 60%. The announcement also caused a sharp spike in on-chain activity among coin holders.

Trump said he “didn’t even know” about the consequences of the announcement.

“I’m not profiting from anything. It’s just that everything I do, I started long before the elections,” he stated.

According to him, he has not been monitoring the assets he owns, although cryptocurrencies performed “much stronger” when markets went down.

According to TRUMP’s tokenomics, 80% of the total issuance of 1 billion tokens belongs to CIC Digital (a subsidiary of the Trump Organization) and Fight Fight Fight (co-owned by CIC Digital). The coins are unlocked gradually over three years.

By mid-February, NYT estimated that investors’ accumulated losses in TRUMP reached $2 billion. Organizations associated with the asset had earned $100 million in fees by that time. Financial Times reported in March that the companies had made $350 million from the project. 

In the interview, Trump described cryptocurrencies as a “hot topic for millions of people.”   

“I think crypto is important. Because if we don’t do it, then China is going to,” he stated.

He noted that former President Joe Biden was “fiercely” opposed to the industry but completely changed his stance before the elections to gain the votes of digital asset supporters. 

Kamala Harris has been Trump’s opponent since July 2024. Biden withdrew from the presidential race.

In the Senate, the Trump gala dinner for TRUMP holders was called “a breach of any previous standards for impeachment.”