Original TRUMP Token Struggles With Exchange Listings as DJT Rockets

The team behind TRUMP (the meme coin, not the former U.S. president) have a similar complaint as their crypto token's namesake: They say the game is rigged against them.

The team, who have no official ties to Donald Trump, told CoinDesk they've had a hard time getting the original Trump-themed PoliFi token listed on mainstream digital asset trading platforms.

TRUMP, whose logo features the GOP candidate with laser eyes, primarily trades on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) but is available on lesser-known centralized exchanges including MEXC, LBank, BingX, and BitMart.

However, when the team applied in mid-May to list the token on Kraken, one of the oldest and largest U.S. exchanges, they never heard back, Steven Steele, marketing director of the TRUMP token, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message. A Kraken spokesperson had no comment.

"The exchanges that have refused to list TRUMP for 'political reasons' are exhibiting embarrassing levels of cowardice that is also incredibly tone deaf to the current memecoin landscape and their own customers," Steele said.

"To shun the pioneer of PoliFi because it’s a Trump-themed project in an election season wherein he is openly running as America’s first major Presidential 'crypto candidate' is shockingly out of touch and speaks volumes as to who they are and where they’re coming from," he continued.

PoliFi refers to political finance, a category of election-themed memecoin where ownership represents partisanship (though again, not formal affiliation), and a token's market movement reflects a candidate's chances of winning.

Despite Kraken's apparent refusal to list TRUMP, a jokey counterpart, TREMP, recently debuted on the U.S. exchange. Aside from Kraken, TREMP also trades on HTX in addition to many of the lesser-known exchanges that list TRUMP.

Kraken also lists BODEN, the Joe Biden-themed counterpart to TREMP.

'Too political'

Other exchanges told the TRUMP team that the token was "too political" to list, despite initially seemingly being okay with it provided certain volume targets were hit prior to listing.

In screenshots seen by CoinDesk, a representative from ByBit's listing team initially provided volume goals as a prerequisite for listing the token on the exchange.

However, later, that rep said that exchange management rejected the listing because of the potential political risk it could bring to a centralized exchange.

A ByBit spokesperson would not discuss the matter on the record.

OKX also gave the TRUMP team a similar response. In screenshots seen by CoinDesk, a member of its listing team said political meme coins were too sensitive of a topic to list.

An OKX spokesperson would not discuss listing decisions when contacted by CoinDesk.

The TRUMP team has not yet applied to be listed on HTX, the only other mainstream exchange aside from Kraken that lists the TREMP token. A spokesperson for HTX wouldn't rule out listing TRUMP when asked by CoinDesk.

"We consider every potential project and token to list on our platform, subject to the market environment and trend," a HTX spokesperson told CoinDesk in a Telegram interview. "And to be fair to every project, there is also a strict evaluation process by our listing committee."

Down bad

All PoliFi tokens are deeply in the red after the launch of DJT, another Trump-themed token that some have claimed has the official support of the former President's campaign (though no definitive proof has been given).

DJT rallied nearly 200% Monday after reports it had the backing of Trump, though it's down 30% after the connection between DJT and the campaign continues to be questioned.

Crypto trader GiganticRebirth, once a leaderboard champion on FTX, broke a year-and-a-half tweeting hiatus to question the connection between the token and the campaign by offering to be a counterparty in a bet by convicted pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli.

100 million

if you don't have 100 million, as much as you're willing to bet

— GCR (@GiganticRebirth) June 18, 2024

At the same time, TRUMP is down over 38%, according to CoinGecko data while TREMP is in the red with a 45% on-day loss.

Bettors on Polymarket, the crypto-based prediction market platform, are signaling a 16% chance that the DJT token has the backing of Trump himself or his campaign.