Retail Investors Lost Up to $4.5B on $TRUMP Meme Coin as Insiders Made $1.4B

Retail holders of the $TRUMP meme coin have lost between $4 billion and $4.5 billion since the token launched in January 2025, while entities linked to President Trump collected more than $1.4 billion in royalties, licensing fees and token sales over the same period, according to Crypto Briefing.

The scale of the losses has reignited debate over whether tokens tied to political figures need dedicated disclosure rules, given that existing crypto regulation was not built with presidential meme coins in mind.

From a $15 billion peak to $400 million

$TRUMP launched in January 2025 and briefly surged to a market capitalization of roughly $15 billion, with the token trading near $72 at its high, Crypto Briefing reports.

By mid-2026, that valuation had collapsed to around $400 million, a decline of more than 90% from its peak. Research cited by the outlet found that between 764,000 and 1.48 million wallets are currently underwater on their positions.

Insiders exited before the crash

While retail buyers absorbed the losses, insiders connected to Trump-linked entities are estimated to have captured between $1.1 billion and $1.2 billion in gains by selling their positions ahead of the broader decline, according to Crypto Briefing.

Trump himself is reported to have earned approximately $635 million in royalties and licensing fees from $TRUMP, plus more than $500 million from related token sales, bringing the total haul for Trump-linked entities above $1.4 billion.

Perks, dinners and a related token slide

The $TRUMP token was marketed with exclusive perks for top holders, including dinners at a Virginia golf club in May 2025 and at Mar-a-Lago in April 2026, promoted via Trump-linked websites, Crypto Briefing reports.

World Liberty Financial, another Trump-connected crypto venture, has also seen turbulence, with its WLFI governance token depreciating roughly 33% during certain periods, according to the report.

Pressure builds for political token rules

The gap between the losses suffered by retail buyers and the gains booked by insiders is fueling calls for stricter oversight of politically-linked cryptocurrencies, Crypto Briefing notes.

Current U.S. crypto rules were largely written before the emergence of presidential meme coins, leaving regulators with limited tools to address conflicts of interest or require additional disclosure from politically affiliated token issuers.

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