$155 Million Lost To Crypto Scams Leveraging Trump-Coin Frenzy

Amid the buzz surrounding political tokens and the heated race for the White House between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, a token known as Restore the Republic (RTR) emerged. According to Fortune, this crypto, which exploited rumors surrounding the Trump family, defrauded investors and led to the loss of significant amounts of funds.

The Short-Lived Saga Of RTR Unraveled

Per the report, it all began on Thursday when the RTR token suddenly emerged on the Solana blockchain. Speculations immediately swirled that this new cryptocurrency was connected to former President Donald Trump or his family. 

According to Fortune, the spark was a recent social media post by Donald Trump’s son, Eric Trump, who revealed they were planning a “big announcement” related to crypto and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Fueled by the Trump name, rumors quickly escalated. Ryan Fournier, chairman of the pro-Trump group Students for Trump, stoked the flames by posting that the “official Trump coin” was Restore the Republic. 

Within six hours of trading, investors poured over $155 million into the token, causing its value to skyrocket by over 120%. However, the bubble burst just as quickly as it had inflated. 

An hour after hitting a high of $0.022, RTR plunged more than 80%. The catalyst? A tweet from Eric Trump himself warned users about “fake tokens” and clarified that the Trump family’s “official project” had not yet been announced.

Bitcoinist reported on Thursday that sources believe that the Trump family’s new crypto project could include investments in Real World Assets (RWA), tentatively named “World Liberty,” using blockchain technology. However, these are just rumors at this point, as the full announcement has yet to be released by the Trumps.

The Trump Crypto Craze

In the aftermath of the RTR token incident, Donald Trump Jr. attempted to distance his family from the debacle, urging speculators not to associate any crypto project with the Trump family “unless you hear it directly from us.” 

The former President’s son acknowledged the appeal of “meme coins and that culture” but emphasized the need to avoid conflating legitimate ventures with these scams.

The RTR token’s creator, Kanpai Labs, has been accused of orchestrating a “hard rug pull” – a type of crypto fraud where developers abruptly abandon a project, absconding with investors’ funds, the report notes. 

Interestingly, Kanpai’s founder, known as “Bags,” claimed the Trump family was behind the token and had even allegedly chosen the launch date, only to delete the post later and disavow any involvement.

The RTR incident is not an isolated case in the Trump-themed crypto sphere. Other memecoins like Super Trump (STRUMP) and MAGA (TRUMP) have also historically seen price spikes during political optimism for the former president. 

At the time of writing, MAGA was trading at $2.95, down 14% in the 24-hour time frame and over 55% in the past two weeks. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com