WASHINGTON, Jan 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The price of Donald Trump's new cryptocurrency called $TRUMP soared on Sunday, with the amount held by the US president-elect and his associates now valued at more than $38 billion.

Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin, which is designed to capitalize on the popularity of a certain personality, movement or viral internet trend on Saturday, in a post on his Truth Social platform and X.

Meme coins have no economic or transactional value, and are often seen as a means of speculative trading.

Neither Trump nor the company managing the token's launch, Fight Fight Fight LLC, offered details about how much he made from the initial batch of meme coins released.

The coin's official site said 200 million meme coins were issued, with Fight Fight Fight saying an additional 800 million would be added over the next three years.

On Sunday at 7:30 pm (0030 GMT Monday) the meme coin was worth around $48, bringing the market capitalization for $TRUMP to approximately $9.6 billion.

At this price, the 800 million meme coins still in Trump and his associates' hands are worth approximately $38.4 billion.

With the exception of "stablecoins," tokens that are pegged to stable assets such as the US dollar, cryptocurrencies often have extremely volatile fluctuations and it is not uncommon for their price to collapse, particularly in the case of meme coins.

Trump's meme coin has already risen to $75 before falling back.

On Sunday, incoming first lady Melania Trump issued her own cryptocurrency, called $MELANIA.

Initially opposed to cryptocurrency, Trump made a sharp about-face during his 2024 presidential campaign, becoming a champion of the concept and promising to develop the sector, notably by loosening regulations.

Before this new announcement, businessmen linked to Trump had in October put online a crypto trading platform called World Liberty Financial.