Memecoin Surge and Fallout

A memecoin experienced a dramatic rise and fall on Thursday after misleading claims emerged on the social media platform X regarding its connection to former President Donald Trump.

The apparent “pump and dump” scheme followed a day after Trump’s sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, praised cryptocurrency on X, hinting at an upcoming DeFi announcement.

In a now-deleted video, crypto influencer @SizeChad told viewers that not purchasing the Restore the Republic (RTR) token indicated they had “low T.” Ryan Fournier, chair member of Students for Trump, allegedly promoted the token’s association with Trump, only to later delete the tweet.

Eric Trump responded on X, denouncing Fournier’s claims, stating: “This is absolutely false.” Both he and Donald Jr. warned followers about deceptive tokens.

Donald Jr. tweeted: “I love how much the crypto community is embracing Trump…beware of fake tokens claiming to be part of the Trump project. The only official project will be announced directly by us… Don’t be fooled—stay tuned for the real deal.”

The RTR token surged from $0.0005 to as high as $0.1460 within hours, then plummeted, currently trading around $0.0076. Despite the drop, this still reflects a 1,200% increase since launch, alongside roughly $130 million in trading volume.