Trump "Pump and Dump" Playbook: Rumors Pump the Price, Massive Sell-Off, Son Denies It All
- Key Takeaways: In late August, market rumors of an "insider tip" that Trump would launch a new token on the Robinhood chain triggered a surge in the TRUMP token and a rally in Robinhood's stock price. Trump's second son, Eric Trump, subsequently denied the rumor, confirming it was false, while the TRUMP team capitalized on the hype to cash out over $12 million at peak prices.
- Key Elements:
- On August 22, fueled by the rumor, the TRUMP token briefly broke above $3.40, hitting a high not seen since March, with a 24-hour surge of nearly 100%. Robinhood's stock price also jumped over 11% at one point.
- On August 23, Trump's second son, Eric Trump, publicly denied the rumor, stating that "nobody is launching any tokens, and any suggestion to the contrary is a scam," effectively putting an end to the market speculation.
- On-chain data revealed that the so-called "WWW" or "Test Coin" was actually a test token from known scammers, not issued by the Trump team. The flow of funds from related addresses was debunked by analyses from crypto community members.
- During the rumor frenzy, the TRUMP team sold over $12 million worth of tokens through two large transfers and the addition of one-sided liquidity, successfully cashing out at high prices.
- In the aftermath, KOLs pointed out that the incident may have involved fraud orchestrated by market makers. Others argued that Trump would need to divest his crypto businesses under the CLARITY Act, making a token launch highly unlikely in the short term.
Original｜Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author｜Wenser (@wenser 2010 )
Over the past weekend, rumors that "Trump would issue a new coin on the Robinhood chain" successfully ignited the market.
Amid intertwined rumors, insider information, and on-chain anomalies, the TRUMP token briefly broke through $3.4, hitting a new high since March; the official TRUMP team also took advantage of the surge to sell millions of tokens, cashing out over $9.15 million. On the other side, Robinhood's stock price followed suit, with HOOD surging over 11% at one point.
However, this farce came to an abrupt halt with the denial from Trump's second son, Eric Trump. But given the Trump family's crypto project track record, whether this drama truly has no sequel remains uncertain.
Now, let's rewind the clock to 3 days ago (August 21) and review how this farce unfolded, evolved, and ultimately concluded.
Familiar formula, different flavor: "Trump bull run fever" - It all starts with insider information
Last week, Trump once again made remarks about "encouraging crypto innovation and creating a friendly regulatory environment" at the White House cryptocurrency conference, and the crypto market rose accordingly. Combined with moves by U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent such as Treasury buybacks, assets like BTC and gold rebounded sharply, with BTC briefly breaking through $79,000 and gold recovering to around $4,600. The market thus proclaimed that the "Trump-style bull run is unfolding once again."
Numerous prominent figures, including F2Pool co-founder Wang Chun and Strive CEO, also stated that "the bear market is over." Some even used an image of Trump combined with the recently viral "bull coming" meme to describe this fiery surge.
"Trump version of the bull coming"
After the surge, rumors about Trump began to proliferate, with the most widely circulated being insider information claiming that "Trump plans to issue a new token on the Robinhood chain at 2 AM on August 22." On the evening of August 21, this news was being spread across the entire X platform, crypto communities, and WeChat groups.
And when insider information spreads like wildfire, even becoming an "open secret," the direction of the story becomes quite obvious.
From Trump to Trump family members: Multiple twists in the fake token issuance rumor
On the night of August 21, a screenshot of a Telegram message began circulating across major crypto communities, with the information shifting from "Trump is issuing a token" to "Trump's son is issuing a token, but not today."
Suddenly, countless people recalled the spectacle from the early morning of January 18 last year, just 3 days before Trump was officially inaugurated as U.S. President, when the "official Trump Meme coin TRUMP" launched — TRUMP surged from around $0.5 to nearly $40 in just one day, and approached $80 within the following 3 days. Countless KOLs and on-chain whales reaped fortunes of millions or even tens of millions of dollars from it.
If this news were true, no one wanted to miss another opportunity to get rich overnight, even if the token might turn out to be a "money-losing project" like MELANIA or Milei's LIBRA.
That evening, as the market rumors sounded increasingly convincing, countless people camped out on-chain, afraid that a new coin might suddenly pop up as the Trump team's "second masterpiece." Soon enough, on-chain activity began its own performance, pushing this "token issuance farce" to a new climax.
On-chain dynamics take center stage: Suspected Trump team testing new token launch, token named WWW?
On August 22, after a night of nothing happening, amid the market and community's half-belief, discussions about "Trump team issuing a token" gradually shifted focus to on-chain movements.
Multiple crypto community members posted: "A newly created wallet on the Robinhood chain received 290 ETH, suspected to be the Trump family testing token issuance, with the token ticker being WWW. The first version of the token had a 10% transaction tax, which was changed to 0.3% in the second version. Market cap was around $10 million at the time, with the developer holding approximately 99.9% of the tokens, and the token name was Truth Coin." Others also pointed out that there was another similar token called Test Coin, with a total supply of 1 billion tokens.
However, as later confirmed by multiple crypto community members and KOLs, this turned out to be a "habitual scammer" known for creating rug pulls. Crypto Jargon posted a detailed analysis of the relevant addresses and fund flows. Another "token issuance move" was gradually debunked amid skepticism.
Widespread rumors emerge: Trump family about to issue tokens sparks discussion frenzy on X
On August 22, news about "the Trump family about to issue tokens" gradually spread across the X platform, with countless crypto accounts of all sizes — driven by traffic farming, market insider information, or exploiting audience FOMO — posting that the Trump family was going to issue tokens.
Among them, the "crypto marketing heavyweight" doomer posted: "According to WLFI insiders: The Trump family plans to launch BARRON, DONJR, and other tokens in October."
Ronald Carter, with nearly 200,000 followers, posted: "Trump is about to issue a new token in one month."
Whale Scan, a major crypto account with over 280,000 followers, also joined the fun. The account posted around 2 AM on August 23, stating: "Trump is about to launch a new token, I'm the first to call this, don't forget to hit the notification bell."
And just like that, "I WILL BE THE FIEST TO CALL IT" became the "traffic password" for crypto accounts, with more and more people joining the carnival of this "token issuance farce." Meanwhile, the TRUMP team quietly completed its distribution and sell-off amid the market frenzy.
TRUMP team rapidly dumps millions of TRUMP tokens: Cumulative token sales exceed $12 million
On August 20, benefiting from Trump's remarks and a series of policy-related positive news, TRUMP surged over 26% intraday, reaching a high of $1.865;
Two days later, on August 22, TRUMP briefly broke through $3.4, hitting a new high since March 21, with a 24-hour gain of nearly 100%.
On August 23, the TRUMP token team address (2RH...FSK) transferred out 3.837 million SOL, worth $9.33 million, which was routed through BitGo before entering OKX.
On August 24, the TRUMP token team address (BDNB...mx66) sold 1.1 million TRUMP tokens in exchange for 2.94 million USDC by adding one-sided liquidity in the early hours, with an average sale price of $2.68.
Thus, leveraging the market rumor of "Trump issuing a new coin" and the hype-driven rally of the TRUMP token, the TRUMP team successfully profited over $12 million, and then disappeared into the shadows afterward — truly deserving the title of "behind-the-scenes market mastermind."
The reason is simple: Eric Trump, being Trump's second son, had already come out publicly to deny the rumors on the morning of August 23.
Trump's second son Eric Trump personally denies: "Issuing a token is a joke, anyone suggesting otherwise is a fraud"
On August 23, shortly after Whale Scan posted, Eric Trump came across the post claiming the Trump family was about to issue tokens. He responded: "This is a joke... This is absolutely not true. Nobody is issuing any kind of token. If anyone suggests otherwise, it's a scam." With that, the crypto farce of "Trump issuing new coins" finally came to a close, but the aftermath of this hype event continues to ripple through the market.
Post-event aftermath: Who exactly is going to issue a token? Trump himself? Trump Media & Technology Group? Or Trump family members?
After Eric Trump's denial, the crypto market and community continued discussions on the following aspects:
Crypto KOL Crypto Brave posted: "This presidential token issuance event is suspected to be a fraudulent scheme orchestrated by an active MM (Odaily Planet Daily note: market maker), possibly involving a cabal that coordinated the hype campaign before spreading it to on-chain user circles."
Crypto KOL North Talks Blockchain also pointed out: "I believe Trump won't issue a token because of the CLARITY Act, which explicitly requires Trump to divest from cryptocurrency businesses, and Trump has agreed to these terms. The Senate will vote on the CLARITY Act in September. Issuing a token now would just mean Trump's son has a screw loose."
Crypto KOL Block Panda, meanwhile, noted: "Trump didn't issue a token, but Trump Media or World Liberty Financial has officially confirmed that 'a new, freely tradable Trump Meme Coin is about to be launched.'" He believes that "the market narratives mainly conflate several distinct matters — Trump Media did previously announce a digital Token plan for DJT shareholders: with a record date of February 2, 2026, eligible shareholders would in principle receive one Token for each full share of DJT held. The official terms are very clear: the Token does not represent equity in Trump Media or any other entity, is not a tokenized version of DJT stock; and per the published plan, the Token is non-transferable and non-redeemable for cash. Its potential use case is to provide holders with benefits or discounts on products like Truth Social, Truth+, and Truth Predict."
With that, the final chapter of the entire "Trump issuing a token" crypto farce has come to an end. As for the future — will the Trump family issue a token one month from now or this October? In whose name among the Trump family members would the token be issued? When will the token issued by Trump Media & Technology Group go live? Will Trump himself issue a second token? Will the token be issued on the Robinhood chain? None of this is known.
Whether the farce has a sequel remains to be seen.
