Bernstein: Trump's meme coin signals a new era of crypto regulation

The launch of the TRUMP meme coin by US President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated yesterday, signals a paradigm shift in how the US and the rest of the world approach crypto, according to analysts at research and brokerage firm Bernstein, CoinDesk writes.

"The moment signifies a new era in regulation, in which governments see crypto as a technology that can directly reach the masses," the team led by Gautam Chhugani wrote in a report published yesterday.

Trump's official meme coin debuted on the Solana blockchain on Saturday, rising spectacularly from about $7 to $75, equivalent to a capitalization valuation of about $15 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data, making it one of the most spectacular token launches in history. It later fell sharply after Melania Trump, Trump's wife, launched her own meme coin.

"The president-elect's token launch is a very important signal for U.S. cryptocurrency developers, especially given the Biden administration's crackdown on the industry," the analysts said. "Build in the United States and don't be shy about launching tokens - a new era of crypto regulation is here," is the message of Trump's move, according to the Bernstein team.

The TRUMP token will be listed on major crypto exchanges, including Coinbase and Binance, according to the companies' announcements, CoinDesk also writes. Yesterday, the entire crypto market was in a state of euphoria, with Bitcoin, the world's most famous cryptocurrency, reaching a new all-time high of $109,333 on Binance, ahead of Donald Trump's inauguration in the White House.

Throughout his election campaign, Trump made promises related to the crypto industry, such as transforming the US into the "crypto capital of the planet" and creating a "strategic national reserve of Bitcoin," which fueled investor optimism.

"Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rose rapidly on the eve of the presidential inauguration amid hopes that new policies and regulators will push the price of BTC even higher this year as the US economy continues to show long-term strength," Ben El-Baz, Managing Director of HashKey Global, told CoinDesk.

Meme coins are cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, dedicated to an interesting or funny idea captured in an image, video, or other form of media (meme). Like the memes they are based on, they are designed to go viral and be distributed online, according to the crypto.com exchange.