President Donald Trump is rewarding his supporters by giving out around $50 worth of his memecoin.
People who purchased merchandise on Trump’s website before Feb. 15 are eligible for three $TRUMP tokens, according to Trump’s official memecoin website, in pursuit of the goal to “create the Biggest, Strongest Crypto Community the World has ever experienced.”
However, there is some fine print. His website specifies that only purchases of a few expensive products are eligible for the tokens including Trump-branded watches, fragrances, digital trading cards, and golden sneakers. Airdrop participants can access their reward through March 1 using the email used to purchase the products. The reward will be redeemed through what is known as a token airdrop, in which tokens are directly deposited into each participant’s crypto wallet.
President Trump has promoted an array of products throughout his political tenure, from MAGA-themed athleisure to a $60 Bible. He unexpectedly launched his memecoin in the lead-up to his inauguration in January, sending shockwaves through the crypto industry as it quickly became one of the top 15 cryptocurrencies with a market cap of $14 billion.
But it wasn’t long before the token began to slide amid concerns over the speculative nature of the asset, despite claims on its website that it is not meant to be an investment, but rather an expression of support for Trump. $TRUMP is now worth around $16 per coin, down 8% in the past 24 hours. The currency has lost nearly 80% of its value since peaking at $73 in January.
Some critics have also raised concerns that Trump’s 80% ownership of the token’s supply leaves the door open for a rug pull, a type of crypto scam in which token developers artificially inflate the price of a token before selling their stake and tanking its value.
Since the coin’s release, $TRUMP holders overall have lost more than $2 billion according to an analysis commissioned by the New York Times, while separate analyses from crypto data firms Merkle Science and Chainalysis found that trading fees have generated about $100 million for entities behind the memecoin, which includes the Trump Organization.