First, Michael Saylor hoarded Bitcoin.
Then, an army of copycats mimicked the play and stocked up on the top cryptocurrency. Others gave the Strategy playbook a twist and went shopping for Solana, and XRP.
Now a small Houston-based shipping technology firm has shoved aside Bitcoin and other top cryptocurrencies and forked out $2 million to stockpile another digital asset — US President Donald Trump’s official memecoin.
But how does a listed firm that lost $5.6 million last year justify buying a token that doesn’t seem to have any real utility?
In a word, publicity.
“We did not believe that us purchasing other tokens would draw the same level of attention,” a company spokesperson told DL News.
It’s a move the headline-hungry US president himself would probably appreciate.
And, of course, owning a lot of $TRUMP does come with quite a perk — the president has invited the top 220 holders of his memecoin to attend a gala dinner he is hosting on May 22 at one of his private golf clubs.
The top 25 memecoin investors get something extra: a “special tour” with Potus.
There’s just one catch: Freight Technologies’ CEO Javier Selgas has not received an invitation to attend.
“The company does not feel snubbed at all,” the spokesperson added. “The company did not purchase the [Trump memecoin] with the intention of attending the gala dinner.”
The Saylor playbook
In any event, the unusual deal does speak volumes about how Saylor, the executive chair of Strategy, has spurred a trend that is rapidly growing.
At last count, there are more than 130 companies that have said they are loading their balance sheets with Bitcoin to try and replicate the boffo returns Saylor has generated for Strategy’s stockholders.
The software company’s shares have skyrocketed more than 221% in the last 12 months.
It’s plain to see why Freight Technologies may be looking to emulate Strategy — its shares are trading 99% below its 2017 high.
For all its volatility, Bitcoin has proven its resilience over the last 16 years, and Ethereum and Solana have also won the confidence of investors as they build out DeFi.
These digital assets all have a well-defined function.
The Trump memecoin’s function? Well, that’s harder to pinpoint. Other than making fast money for their creators, memecoins aren’t designed to be useful.
GetTrumpMemes.com, the company behind the Trump memecoin, said on its website that the offering is “an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol $TRUMP.”
Representatives of GetTrumpMemes.com didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Freight Technologies’ spokesperson said it purchased $1 million worth of $TRUMP to have the option to consider an invitation to attend the Trump gala,
If it received one.
Freight Technologies didn’t use shareholder funds to invest in the Trump memecoin, but instead used convertible notes to fund the purchase.
So far, Freight Technologies has scooped up $2 million worth of $TRUMP in two installments, the second tranche being announced this week.
By comparison, the top holder has bought more than $19 million worth of the token in May 14’s prices.
The firm also bought $5.2 million of the artificial-intelligence-related FET tokens from Fetch.ai.
Freight Technologies’ spokesperson said it may buy other cryptocurrencies in the future.
Controversy
The Trump memecoin kicked off a firestorm after its launch on January 17.
Within hours, market watchers raised concerns about the coin distribution. Two ventures with close ties to the Trump family — CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight — own 80% of the president’s memecoin, according to the memecoin’s website.
In April, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Adam Schiff branded the May 22 dinner as “pay-to-play corruption.”
Jon Ossoff, Senator from Georgia, referred to the dinner as an “impeachable offense.”
And mounting concerns over how Trump is blurring the line between policymaking and his family’s crypto interests helped torpedo a Senate vote on a key stablecoin bill last week.
“President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” Anna Kelly, the deputy press secretary, told DL News in May.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Andrew Flanagan is a Markets Correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Reach out to [email protected] or [email protected].
