Buying Trump’s meme coin is like investing in “a pet rock, except you don’t even get a rock”
Brad
Reed for Common Dreams
Appearing on MS NOW, economist Steve Rattner broke down how
Trump’s net worth has exploded from $2.34 billion in 2024 to an estimated $6.5
billion in 2026.
“So where did the money come from? He had $4 billion, he and
his family, of profits,” Rattner said. “$3 billion of it came from crypto, and
I will tell you, there are so many transactions here, so many structures, that
made my head hurt trying to understand it.”
Rattner then explained the finances of the Trump meme coin,
which he described as investing in “a pet rock, except you don’t even get a
rock” out of the deal.
“He sold them initially at $7, it went up to $45, not surprisingly it crashed,” Rattner said.
However, Rattner said that early investors in the
cryptocurrency, whom he described as “whale wallets,” managed to profit
handsomely from the venture by buying up large numbers of Trump coins and then
selling them to retail investors, who were left holding the bag when the coin’s
value fell precipitously shortly after its launch.
“Let me just emphasize, it’s not like [the retail investors]
got anything,” he added. “All they got, in effect, was like a little note, a
little email or something, saying, ‘Congratulations, you own 10 Trump meme
coins.’ But there’s nothing they can do with it. They were buying nothing, they
were buying air.”
The economist did note that Trump made $600 million in
trading fees that investors paid to carry out transactions of the coin.
After his appearance on MS NOW, Rattner posted a photo
on social media of
a graph he made to document the rise in Trump’s wealth over the last two years.
“[Trump’s] administration,” Rattner commented, “is the most
brazenly self-enriching in American history.”
