A caricature of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump with cryptocurrency tokens, pictured in front of the White House to mark his inauguration, on display at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, China, Monday, January 20, 2025.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bitcoin hit a new all-time high overnight after the first incoming couple launched a pair of meme coins and as traders await the inauguration of new President Donald Trump.
On Monday, the flagship cryptocurrency was last up almost 1% at $106,622.54, according to Coin Metrics. Previously, it reached $109,350.72, after briefly falling below $100,000 on Sunday.
Bitcoin Hits New Record Ahead of Trump Inauguration
Over the weekend, Trump launched the “Official Trump” meme coin, which reached a market capitalization of $10.6 billion and surged more than 659% since Friday evening, according to data from CoinGecko and Coinbase. On Monday, it was down about 27% from at its record price of around $73 per coin, after returning First Lady Melania Trump launched her own “Melania” meme coin on Sunday, cutting the value of the Trump coin almost in half at one point.
Melanie Memewhich began trading on Sunday evening, has reached a market capitalization of $1.3 billion and a 14% price increase since its launch. It attracted $7.3 billion in trading volume over the past day, compared to $31 billion for the Trump meme.
Although meme coins are considered the riskiest segment of the already risky cryptocurrency market, Trump’s coin launches this weekend gave traders additional belief that the new administration will be positive for the industry.
“This move highlights President Trump’s embrace of crypto and his belief that Americans should have the freedom to operate in the emerging asset class,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX.
“There is logic here that suggests that giving a seal of approval to what might be perceived as the craziest of crypto assets, meme coins, is the best way to send a message about how much the market should expect the administration to be supportive when it comes to adopting crypto and making America a major player in the field.”
Noelle Acheson, economist and author of the newsletter “Crypto is Macro Now,” echoed the sentiment, calling the meme drops positive and “a sign that he’s very supportive of new ideas.” [and] new markets. »
Bitcoin began gaining momentum last week as speculation began to build that Trump could announce an executive order on crypto at the start of his new term. Gracy Chen, CEO of crypto exchange Bitget, said optimism had a greater effect on its price.
“Rumors that cryptocurrency may be declared a national interest by the United States during the inauguration are having a positive effect on the price of bitcoin,” she told CNBC. “I don’t think the rise in the price of bitcoin is due to the launch of new meme tokens. Rather… without the release of the Trump family tokens, the price of bitcoin would have increased more. Instead, capital has moved to new parts, limiting overall growth.”
The broader crypto market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index, fell 1% on Monday and has gained less than 1% since Saturday. The token linked to Solana is down more than 7% on Monday but up 15% since Saturday, benefiting from the launch of the Trump meme coin on the popular alternative network Ethereum. Ether has lost 5% since Saturday.
Bitcoin’s new record high opens the door for a possible upside extension to $130,000, LMAX’s Kruger added.
