As Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, he has given one more reason for arguably his most ardent support base, the cryptocurrency community, to “have fun”.
The US president-elect on Friday apparently launched a memecoin, which rocketed in value within an hour and has only gone up since. The emergence and sudden rise of the Official Trump token, or $TRUMP, however, raised some questions.
What is a memecoin?
A memecoin is a cryptocurrency that is, by default, not intended to be taken seriously. Coinbase describes them as inspired by internet memes or trends, “typically supported by enthusiastic online communities … generally intended to be light-hearted and fun”.
And that is where the trouble lies: memecoins are typically characterised by their volatile tendencies. But, despite their inherent risk, memecoins have grabbed attention because of their potential for high returns and their “role in digital culture”, Coinbase said.
The most famous memecoin is Dogecoin, the token whose logo resembles a Japanese shiba inu and which was made famous by Tesla chief executive and Trump lieutenant Elon Musk.
There are more than 3,700 memecoins, according to CoinMarketCap – with some amusing names. Among the top performing memecoins are HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu, Cat Girl, Jesus Coin, Pooh, Doge Eat Doge, Elon, Super Trump Coin and Maga, whose unit is “Trump”.
Then, of course, there's Official Trump.
Why were there sceptics?
The latest memecoin to stir interest in the crypto world was a relatively unknown token until Mr Trump posted a message promoting it on X and his Truth Social platform.
Some sceptics on social media alleged the post was the result of a hack, but no evidence to support that was found, and neither Mr Trump nor his team refuted the posts.
Additionally, the company behind the site advertising the $TRUMP token, CIC Digital, was also behind Mr Trump's previous non-fungible token offerings, according to crypto news site Coinage. It seems $TRUMP is legit and continues to generate a buzz.
Is its market cap for real?
News that the market capitalisation of $TRUMP was soaring quickly made the rounds, spiking to $1 billion in minutes, to $4 billion and $7 billion within a few hours. At one point it was reported to have crossed the $20 billion mark.
However, there is context to this, as there are two different market cap values in play here. A total of one billion $TRUMP tokens will eventually be launched, but, initially, only 200 million were put into circulation.
That amount of tokens, with the value of the memecoin at $22.09 as of 3pm UAE time, officially gives $TRUMP a market cap of about $4.46 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
If we take into consideration its fully diluted value, or its value if the maximum supply – in this case, one billion – is in circulation, then $TRUMP's market cap would be more than $22 billion.
Will the hype be sustainable?
That remains to be seen – although as far as trends and optimism go, cryptocurrencies seem to be poised for a good run under the Trump administration.
Mr Trump was once a crypto sceptic. In his first term, he derided Bitcoin and its peers as “not money”, “based on thin air” and something that “can facilitate unlawful behaviour, including drug trade and other illegal activity”, and even called it a “scam” after he left office.
The turning point was when Mr Trump began selling non-fungible tokens depicting himself as a superhero in December 2022, a month after he declared his intention to run for president again. He raised $8.9 million in the process, which apparently proved to him that crypto can be beneficial. It may have also helped that the vice president-elect, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has been known to hold Bitcoin since 2021.
And Mr Musk, the world's wealthiest person, also has interests in cryptos and is part of Mr Trump's key picks that speak highly of them. They also include Scott Bessent (Treasury), Paul Atkins (Securities and Exchange Commission) and Howard Lutnick (Commerce).
Not to forget, Mr Trump's son Eric said at the Bitcoin Mena conference in Abu Dhabi last month that Bitcoin – sitting well above $100,000 – will hit $1 million and the administration “will fight like hell” to keep the crypto train chugging along.
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Classification of skills
A worker is categorised as skilled by the MOHRE based on nine levels given in the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) issued by the International Labour Organisation.
A skilled worker would be someone at a professional level (levels 1 – 5) which includes managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, clerical support workers, and service and sales workers.
The worker must also have an attested educational certificate higher than secondary or an equivalent certification, and earn a monthly salary of at least Dh4,000.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Sunday's games
Liverpool v West Ham United, 4.30pm (UAE)
Southampton v Burnley, 4.30pm
Arsenal v Manchester City, 7pm
