After TRUMP plummeted 87%, Trump allies came out with a "game" trick to save the market: How long can the meme coin narrative play?

After experiencing a tragic drop of up to 87% for US President Trump-related meme coin TRUMP, its promoters plan to launch a 3D mobile game called “Trump Billionaires Club” in an attempt to “save” the coin’s price in a gamified way. TRUMP’s market capitalization has evaporated by more than $7.6 billion from its initial high of $8.8 billion, and now there is less than $1.2 billion left. This move is seen as a typical attempt by meme coins to rely on the “attention economy” and fan effect after the lack of fundamentals, revealing the high-risk nature of such assets that rely heavily on narrative perpetuation.

From Peak to Bottom: A Record of a Plunge in Evaporation of $7.6 Billion in Market Value

Back in the days leading up to the 2025 presidential inauguration, this Trump-themed meme coin made a remarkable debut, with its market capitalization reaching an astonishing height of $8.8 billion, attracting the attention of speculators and spectators around the world. However, the expansion and bursting of bubbles are often only between the first line. Since then, its market capitalization has embarked on a free-fall decline, with a cumulative evaporation value of approximately $7.6 billion, a staggering decline, according to CoinGecko.

As of this week, TRUMP’s market capitalization has shrunk below $1.2 billion, marking an 87% price drop from its all-time high. This cliff-like decline not only wiped out the wealth of countless followers but also completely exposed the fragility of meme coins driven solely by celebrity aura and social media popularity. Trading volume continues to shrink and market liquidity dries up, causing it to fall into a vicious circle of “endless fall”.

Trump-themed meme coin TRUMP key data at a glance

All-time high market cap: $8.8 billion (January 2025)

Current Market Cap: Less than $1.2 billion

Price Drop from High: 87%

Total Market Cap Evaporation: Approximately $7.6 billion

Other Related Asset Performance: Eric Trump’s co-founded American Bitcoin Corp. shares fell 78% since listing in September; The WLFI token, co-founded by Trump and his son, fell 36%; Melania Trump-themed meme coin is down 98% from its high.

“Game Rescue”: A well-planned battle for attention

Faced with the collapse of the currency price and the disappointment of the community, the core promoter behind the project, entrepreneur Bill Zanker, has offered a new trick: gamification. It is reported that a 3D mobile game called “Trump Billionaires Club” is scheduled to be launched on the Apple App Store and web at the end of December. The game is set in New York, where players will use Trump meme coins to virtually build a business empire to gain influence or win physical rewards.

Even more enticingly, game development company Freedom 45 Games LLC will offer $1 million worth of tokens as game prizes, trying to entice users to participate and burn tokens through real money incentives. This is essentially a “burn” or “lock-up” mechanism designed to reduce market circulation and provide support for currency prices in terms of supply and demand. The game uses Trump’s name, which stems from an official licensing agreement that tries to maintain the aura of its “orthodox” endorsement.

However, this is not the first time Zankel has tried to reverse the decline. In May, he hosted a private dinner attended by Trump in person, inviting top coin holders, briefly spurring a rally in the coin price before returning to a downward channel. From the planned abortion of digital wallets, to the idea of establishing an asset management company, to today’s games, this series of actions presents a clear pattern: in the absence of practical utility and ecological support, the team can only continue to create new topics and gimmicks to stimulate market attention and maintain the vitality of the narrative.

The crypto extension of the “Trump business ecosystem” with the driving force behind it

To understand why this meme coin project has been making such a big initial wave and why it continues to try to bail out the market, it is necessary to understand the key person behind it - Bill Zankel. He is not a native entrepreneur in the crypto space, but a long-time business partner of Trump. The two have co-authored books and collaborated on several “eye-catching” projects such as crowdfunding websites and NFTs (Trump NFTs featuring superhero images).

Zankel has built a portfolio of at least six Trump-brand-related businesses, including Trump-branded shoes, watches and fragrances. Fight Fight LLC, the entity that issued the TRUMP meme coin this time, is also closely related to him. Therefore, this cryptocurrency project can be seen as a bold experiment in extending the “Trump business empire” into the digital asset space. Its core logic is to use Trump’s huge personal influence and fan base to quickly complete the cold start and capital gathering.

The advantage of this model is that it starts very quickly and can instantly capture the attention of the global media and speculative funds. But the disadvantage is equally fatal: once the popularity of celebrities fades, or they cannot continue to provide new stimuli points, the value system built on the dunes will quickly collapse. All subsequent actions of the project team, whether it is a dinner party or a game, seem to be desperately cheering for this gradually deflating “hot balloon”, and its sustainability is questionable.

Meme Coin Apocalypse: When the Narrative Runs Out, What’s Left?

This rollercoaster ride for Trump meme coins has taught a vivid risk education lesson for the entire cryptocurrency market, and the meme coin sector in particular. It extremely demonstrates the core driving forces of such assets: pure community consensus, social media virality, and strong speculative sentiment. It does not have a complex smart contract ecosystem, does not solve specific technical problems, and its value comes almost 100% from the “story” that is collectively believed.

However, there is always a time when the story is told and the hot spot always cools down. When the initial FOMO (fear of missing out) dissipates and latecomers lack momentum to take over, price support collapses. At this point, if the project party does not have substantial products, revenue, or technological progress to undertake, it can only continue to weave new and more fancy stories to maintain attention, such as “gamified finance”, “metaverse real estate” or various airdrop promises. This is essentially a continuation of the “Ponzi narrative” that requires constant new participants and capital inflows to maintain the system.

For investors, the cautionary significance of this case is that participating in meme coin trading must be aware of its extremely high-risk nature. This is more of a short-term speculation based on popular culture than a long-term value investment. The key is to judge the life cycle stage of the narrative, the inflection point of community sentiment, and whether the project team’s ability to “create topics” can be sustained. Remember not to be fooled by the initial aura, let alone blindly buy the bottom because it seems “cheap” after a decline, because its bottom may be unfathomable.