Crypto markets saw wild price swings Monday during Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony, as heightened enthusiasm turned to disappointment after he refused to mention crypto during his first speech.
Large-scale crypto benchmark CoinDesk 20 fell more than 5% during the ceremony, while bitcoin (BTC) fell from $106,000 to $101,000 before stabilizing around $103,000 . The Solana Layer 1 Network (SOL), which was at the center of the weekend’s crypto frenzy of Trump-related memecoins, led to losses among altcoin majors, down nearly 10% from his recent lifetime record.
TRUMP, the official Donald Trump memecoin launched Friday on Solana, fell 30% from $50 during Trump’s speech. It later recovered some of its losses, but was still down about 20% from its session high. MELANIA – the token named for First Lady Melanie Trump and launched a day after TRUMP – fell as much as 46% before paring some of the losses.
Read more: Bitcoin falls away from highs after no mention of crypto during Trump’s inauguration speech
The volatility also emptied leveraged crypto trading positions en masse, liquidating more than $700 million in derivatives across all digital assets on exchanges through Monday, according to CoinGlass data. Nearly $500 million of liquidated positions were long bets on rising prices.
Including the nightly liquidation before the inauguration, total liquidations exceed $1.2 billion over the past 24 hours, marking the largest debt wipeout this year.
Anticipation for Trump’s presidency was immense in the crypto industry, expecting more favorable policies toward digital assets after years of regulatory uncertainty and crackdowns. However, the launch of Trump-affiliated meme tokens just days before he took office sparked a speculative frenzy on crypto trading platforms and angered several figures inside and outside the industry.
“It’s absolutely absurd that he would do this,” Nic Carter, founding partner of crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures, told Politico. “They’re diving into new depths of stupidity with the launch of Memecoin.”
Rep. Maxine Waters, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, was the latest to denounce the action.
“This coin represents the worst in crypto and shows why many regulators, advocates and policymakers have long been concerned,” she said in a statement Monday. “These actions by President Trump will also further taint the crypto industry, which has long fought for legitimacy and a level playing field with other financial institutions.”
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