Magic Eden, a popular decentralized crypto platform, announced this week the launch of “The Official $TRUMP Wallet” in collaboration with the $TRUMP meme coin team. All three of the US president’s sons promptly denied the news.
Magic Eden introduced the product on X, calling the wallet: “The First and Only Crypto Wallet for True Trump Fans.” CEO and co-founder Jack Lu, who recently attended the Trump crypto dinner near Washington DC, also publicized the initiative on social media.
The announcement was followed up by a message from the official $TRUMP meme coin account, encouraging users to join the community.
$1 million prize pool
With the waitlist for the wallet officially open, Magic Eden said users can sign up and potentially win part of a $1 million prize pool of $TRUMP coin when the app launches.
The Trumps are the masters of attracting publicity—including through provocation and controversy—and on this occasion the backlash was swift and widely noticed. Donald Jr. and Eric, both tweeted statements saying the Trump family had no knowledge of the project. In a rare social media post, Barron Trump, the President’s youngest son, wrote: “our family has zero involvement.”
After the official statements and denials from both sides, no one has clarified how the confusion arose. It is as if the controversy is serving a purpose…
Revenue to gain
The Trump crypto web certainly has the opportunity to gain transactional revenue from the related trading as the information proliferated. The spotlight cast on the new wallet may even increase sign-ups for the waitlist. However, if Eric Trump pursues his threats, it could become a long slog for Magic Eden to get the wallet live for consumers.
World Liberty Financial, another Trump family crypto venture run by Eric and Donald Jr., is set to announce their own wallet soon. Is Magic Eden making a genuine play to try get ahead of that announcement?
Allowing for a little speculation, here are some of the potential beneficiaries from the chaos:
- $TRUMP holders saw the coin climb as much as 3.5% to $11.69 on the initial 3 June news about Magic Eden, hardly a great spike, and settle just below $11 late 5 June. Based on the price, they holders have navigated the chaos calmly, although the dispute is still raging.
- Eric & Donald Trump Jr. are on a mission to maximize family wealth while their father is in office. It would not be the first time that the Trump family disavows something before backtracking and endorsing it. The brothers thrive in hectic news cycles and constantly find ways to be noticed. If the wallet ends up an official Trump-branded app, feeding into their growing crypto empire, they certainly benefit from the current attention. They make money from every transaction of $TRUMP.
- Magic Eden token holders witnessed a more significant shift. After the original announcement, the value of the token increased from $0.87 to $1.15 on 3 June in US trading, before losing much of the gain after Donald Trump Jr. posted the first denial of association. It has since fallen back to around the original trading price.
- The company Magic Eden led by Jack Lu is known primarily as an NFT marketplace, although Lu has been seeking ways to diversify the company. With this announcement, it appears to have run ahead of World Liberty Financial’s effort to produce its own wallet. However, if there really is a rift growing with the Trump family, and the product fails, Magic Eden stands to lose its close ties to the Trump orbit and may lose its footing beyond that.
- Bill Zanker, the long-time Trump ally and one of the $TRUMP token architects, has not commented publicly on the announcement. However, the official @GetTrumpMemes account on X did post about the announcement. Along with the Trump family, Zanker also makes money from $TRUMP transactions. Is he now following Elon Musk, among others, and aiming to move away from the family?
Controlled confusion
Whether this is one example of a straight-up breakdown in communications between the factions of in the Trump camp or a pot-stirring drama to gain attention remains to be seen. Either way, it’s clear we’re all doing exactly what they want: watching $TRUMP.
