Ammon News - U.S. President Donald Trump's new crypto token soared to more than $10 billion in market value on Monday, while enthusiasm over his crypto-friendly administration helped briefly lift bitcoin to a new record.

Launched Friday night, Trump's so-called "memecoin" surged from less than $10 on Saturday morning to as high as $74.59 before giving up some of its gains on Monday. The token, branded $TRUMP and criticized by ethics experts, was last trading at $33.88, according to cryptocurrency price tracker CoinGecko.

World Liberty Financial, a separate Trump-linked crypto project, also announced on Monday that it had completed an initial token sale, raising $300 million, and would look to issue additional tokens.

The expansion of Trump's crypto interests comes as his administration is widely expected to usher in a "golden age" for cryptocurrencies, in stark contrast to the regulatory scrutiny the industry experienced under former President Joe Biden.

Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, hit a new record of $109,071 on inauguration day when Trump was sworn-in as the 47th U.S. President, but later pared those gains and was last trading at $101,867.40.

"The cryptocurrency market gained additional popularity in recent hours due to the launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA cryptocurrencies just before the inauguration," said Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at Conotoxia Ltd, in a statement.

The Trump and Melania cryptocurrencies, the latter which was launched on Sunday, were created on the Solana blockchain.
The price of Solana's coin also rose over the weekend, hitting an all-time high of $294.33 on Sunday.

"I think in the short term there's a chance this could be a sell-the-news event," said Matthew Dibb, chief investment officer at crypto asset manager Astronaut Capital, adding that crypto investors had been anticipating some executive actions to be rolled out during Trump's first day in office.

"Bitcoin has already retreated ... We are expecting further volatility here and likely a selloff."

Trump's crypto token launched on Friday, trading under $10, but quickly rose, peaking at $72.62 on Sunday. It traded lower on Monday, falling from $52.15 to trade in the $30 range late in the day. Reuters