In 2016, some supposed supporters of Donald Trump resisted using Bitcoin because it wasn’t stamped with their preferred presidential candidate and created Trumpcoin. However, almost six years after, the coin is dividing the faithful and the ex-first family.
In a never-ending stream of alternate cryptocurrencies, or altcoins, Trumpcoin was considered a masterstroke. Like every other crypto, it is “mined” by computers working on an algorithm and are stored on user accounts called wallets. Hundreds of altcoins compete for users’ attention at any given time, and while the user experience is similar for each, it’s not uncommon for an altcoin to adopt a familiar face and could be used by many online gambling sites.
Identified only by the username Chicken65, like a much of the cryptocurrency world, the founder was reluctant to use his real name—but told Vocativ in a Skype interview that he’s a Scottish music producer, bald and around 40 years old. He’s a longtime fan of free markets and opponent of government regulation of the financial world, and feels Trump is the highest profile representation of those ideas in the world today.
“In my ideal world there would be no such thing as governments, banks, welfare states, institutionalized education, nationalized heathcare and so on,” Chicken65 said. “I don’t agree with all [Trump] says,” he wrote, “but I couldn’t call the coin ‘The Free Society Logic Reason Truth and Philosophical coin.’” He notes that has come with its own set of problems. “[T]he coin has been under attack from day one” from people trying to knock it offline with DDoS attacks, he says—”some people seem to like attacking anything Trump.”
Like all but a handful of altcoins, an individual TrumpCoin is practically worthless at the moment, with market watch site Coinmarketcap listing one TrumpCoin as worth about $0.005. But it’s only two months old, and Chicken65 has big plans for TrumpCoin—he plans to soon upgrade it to Version 2, which comes with a host of new features. But even if it never takes off, it’s not just as much about the money, he says—it’s also about reminding people that economic freedom can mean freedom from government-sponsored currency.
“I believe we don’t need any form of government … generally all state institutions practice violence against their populations. Taxation is a form of violence,” Chicken65 said. “I simply don’t understand why people love government—they are terrorists. They have killed the vast majority of people in human history. They are our enemy.”
Trumpcoin’s supply increases at a fixed rate of 2% each year, and its value peaked one time at 84 cents per coin and a market cap of $5.5 million, according to casinoclic casino en ligne.
“The TrumpCoin Patriot loves Freedom, God, Family and feels a sense of pride in contributing to society. They stand up against corruption, support integrity, preserve our individual rights in a free society and respect those flags around the world that represent freedom,” said its website.
“We stand firm against leftist groups and intimidation. Patriots have sacrificed their time, energies, careers, families and their lives for the good of all people,” But the Trump family doesn’t see it like that.
On Monday, Eric Trump tweeted a ‘fraud alert’, saying that Trumpcoin has no ties with the Trump family. He then said there would be legal action against the cryptocurrency.
“Fraud Alert: It has come to our attention that someone is promoting a crypto currency called “TrumpCoin” (Symbol “TRUMP.”) This has NOTHING to do with our family, we do not authorize the use and we are in no way affiliated with this group. Legal action will be taken,” he said.
The Trumpcoin Twitter account replied to Trump’s tweet confirming it never said it was associated with the former president’s brand. In other replies to Twitter users, it points to the Trumpcoin’s FAQ page where it states there are no ties with the Trump brand.
Trumpcoin reiterated in a statement to CNET that it launched more than five years ago and is “not affiliated with the Trumps in any way and has been on our website since day 1.”
“We feel this is a misunderstanding and we are in the crossfire,” the Trumpcoin spokesperson added.
It appears that a long legal tussle is ahead.