What to know:
- TRUMP token surged over 70% after announcing a dinner event with President Trump for top token holders.
- The event follows a $300 million release of TRUMP tokens into circulation, with more expected in July.
- The token, marketed as Donald Trump's "official" crypto token, was met with industry-wide criticism at its January launch.
TRUMP, marketed as Donald Trump's official crypto token, rallied on Wednesday as an invitation to a dinner event with the U.S. President for token holders appeared on the project's website.
"Join President Donald J. Trump at his Private, Members-Only Club in Washington, D.C. for Dinner!," a banner about the event on the project's website said.
The invite is targeted for the 220 largest token holders, per the event's website.
The token surged over 70% following the news briefly hitting $16, its strongest price since early March. Later it retraced to below $13, still up 43% over the past 24 hours.
The event, notably, comes after $300 million worth of previously locked-up TRUMP tokens were added to circulation on April 18, according to Tokenomist data. Some 75% of all existing tokens are still locked up, with the next unlock coming up in July increasing the supply by over $600 million of coins.
The TRUMP token, launched only days before Donald Trump's presidential inauguration on January 20, was met with industry-wide backlash for capitalizing on the attention and Trump's public office and heavy allocations to insiders.
The launch also marked the peak in speculative froth on crypto markets. Bitcoin (BTC) declined over 30% from record prices in the following weeks, while many smaller, more speculative cryptocurrencies suffered 80%-90% drawdowns.
Despite today's rally, TRUMP coin still trades more than 80% below its January 19 record price of $73.