The cryptocurrency Restore the Republic (RTR), dedicated to Donald Trump, saw a 95% drop from its peak after the former president’s family denied any involvement in the project.
Initially, the price of RTR soared to $0.0027 following a now-deleted suggestion by Students for Trump chairman Ryan Fournier about the project’s connection to the politician.
However, after Eric Trump dismissed the rumors as false, the asset’s price plummeted to $0.000068, and its market capitalization fell from $2.7 million to $67,000.
This is absolutely false https://t.co/qmv2AKeUYD
— Eric Trump (@EricTrump) August 8, 2024
The community also began targeting members of the NFT project Kanpai Pandas team, suspecting them of promoting the token on X before the denial.
the advertiser pushing the link before the coin came out was Kanpai labs pic.twitter.com/2y91RWT5UX
— ???? (?,?) (@0xArch) August 8, 2024
One user shared a screenshot, claiming that Kanpai Labs was behind the coin’s advertising on Google.
Meanwhile, the project’s founder, known as Ice Bugz, gave a vague response to the younger Trump’s statement, thanking “everyone who sent love.”
I’m a scammer fuck buy pandas get bent. Thanks for the guys that sent love today. https://t.co/hlhSRZ3zrG
— Bagz (the real one) (@bagzybagz1321) August 9, 2024
Following the backlash, the price of the Kanpai Pandas NFT collection dropped by 37%. The floor price for NFTs fell from 0.775 ETH to 0.46 ETH, according to Blur.
Influencer Size Chad also participated in shilling RTR. He later stated he was not affiliated with the coin, deleted posts mentioning it, and reported a “loss of ~$60,000.”
Deleted tweets. Lost ~$60k. Not part of the team and never was. Received 0 tokens. Tweeted to support Ice Bags and got rugged.
— Size Chad (@SizeChad) August 8, 2024
Rumors of the 45th President of the United States’ involvement in crypto projects emerged following his repeated statements about the industry. Additionally, Donald Trump Jr. revealed details of a project related to cryptocurrencies and DeFi, which he had previously announced.
However, the community did not appreciate the gesture. Numerous requests appeared online urging the Trumps to abandon the idea of entering the industry.
Eric — if you care about your dad’s chances to win this election, please for the love of all that is good don’t launch a token.
— K A L E O (@CryptoKaleo) August 8, 2024
“Eric, if you care about your dad’s chances to win this election, please, for the love of all that is good, don’t launch a token,” stated trader KALEO.
Earlier, Bitwise’s Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan concluded that the crypto industry is unaffected by politicians’ attitudes. A similar opinion was expressed by former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes.