Bitcoin soared to a new all-time high above $109,000 during Asian trading hours on Monday ahead of the scheduled inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump later in the day. The largest digital asset has since seen a slight correction.

Donald Trump and his team are facing accusations of running a “pump and dump scheme” after launching two high-profile memecoins that have added billions of dollars to the net worth of the incoming president and First Lady.

The “official” memecoin of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, TRUMP, has significantly boosted interest in Solana (SOL), leading to a substantial surge in both its price and trading volume. This surge, in turn, helped the total dollar value locked (TVL) on the Solana network surpass $10 billion for the first time since the FTX collapse.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Bitcoin Hits Record High Above $109,000 Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration
• Trump Family Accused of Greed Over Memecoin Launches
• Solana Surges on Trump’s Memecoin Launch

Bitcoin Hits Record High Above $109,000 Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration

Bitcoin soared to a new all-time high above $109,000 during Asian trading hours on Monday ahead of the scheduled inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump later in the day. The largest digital asset has since seen a slight correction.

Trump, in a speech delivered Sunday, mentioned the cryptocurrency’s performance alongside that of the broader U.S. stock market. “Since the election, the stock market has surged and small business optimism has soared a record 41 points to a 39-year high. Bitcoin has shattered one record high after another,” he said, drawing a parallel between his political success and the booming markets.

Earlier in the day, bitcoin had dipped below the $100,000 mark shortly after First Lady Melania Trump issued her own memecoin, drawing liquidity away from major assets. The sell-off, however, was short-lived.

Trump has been a vocal cryptocurrency supporter over the last few months, with pledges to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet” and to create a strategic national bitcoin reserve fueling investor optimism.

Bitcoin’s market dominance is now approaching 60%, while the gap between BTC and ETH continues to widen, with a $1.75 trillion market capitalization difference — the largest difference ever recorded — between the top two cryptocurrencies.

Trump Family Accused of Greed Over Memecoin Launches

Donald Trump and his team are facing accusations of running a “pump and dump scheme” after launching two high-profile memecoins that have added billions of dollars to the net worth of the incoming president and First Lady.

One day after the launch of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, which quickly soared to a $15 billion market capitalization before correcting to now have a market capitalization of around $11 billion and a fully diluted value of $57.5 billion, Melania Trump launched her own memecoin.

That memecoin, MELANIA, led some observers to accuse the Trump family of capitalizing on the successful launch of TRUMP in a manner that raised ethical concerns.

Shortly after the launch of MELANIA, the TRUMP token lost more than 30% of its value, with the market seeing it as a “form of dilution” and assuming “that Trump has tens of other coins in the wings to come,” according to Bianco Research president Jim Bianco.

The MELANIA memecoin now has a $1.75 billion market capitalization and $10.8 billion in fully diluted value. Various analysts called these coins pump and dump schemes, with financial analyst Michael A. Gayed saying Trump’s credibility has been “totally destroyed” over their launch.

Solana Surges on Trump’s Memecoin Launch

The “official” memecoin of incoming U.S. President Donald Trump, TRUMP, has significantly boosted interest in Solana (SOL), leading to a substantial surge in both its price and trading volume. This surge, in turn, helped the total dollar value locked (TVL) on the Solana network surpass $10 billion for the first time since the FTX collapse.

Donald Trump’s decision to issue the memecoin on Solana resulted in a  17% increase in SOL’s price since its announcement, propelling the cryptocurrency to a new all-time high before it corrected slightly. This surge also contributed to a substantial boost in the dollar value locked on Solana’s smart contracts.

As measured in SOL, the TVL on the network has been steadily growing since the beginning of last year and recently reached a new all-time high of $12 billion. This milestone surpasses the previous record set in August 2022, just before the FTX collapse, which had a significant impact on Solana’s ecosystem, particularly due to the prominent role of its co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

The network choice also contributed to the perception of a spot Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) being launched in the first half of the year. Polymarket traders’ chances of such a product being launched by July 31st increased from 43% to 61%.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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