At a Palm Beach sidewalk cafe a man refreshed his crypto wallet and watched the $TRUMP token slide on his phone. Blockchain analytics firm Nansen estimates roughly $3.8 billion in losses tied to the coin, with 988,905 wallets underwater as of June 30. The figure covers both paper losses and wallets that sold at a loss after the token rocketed from a post‑launch peak near $75.35 to low single digits. The New York Times reported that Nansen's ledger-based analysis shows the pain has fallen mostly on retail buyers even as businesses and the token's founder collected large fees.
On the pavement the screen showed red numbers, an ordinary moment that maps on to an extraordinary on-chain ledger. Nansen found that 988,905 accounts had lost money on $TRUMP by the end of June, a tally the firm said represents roughly two out of every three purchasers of the token.
The token soared to about $75.35 shortly after launch, then collapsed back to low single-digit dollar levels within months. That trajectory produced both realised losses, where holders sold at a lower price, and paper losses, where wallets still hold tokens worth less than their purchase price. Nansen's public cut of on-chain data runs through June 30 and forms the basis of the $3.8 billion estimate.
The distribution of outcomes was stark. Nansen's figures show roughly half a million wallets together recorded about $4 billion in gains, concentrated among early entrants and sophisticated traders who sold during the initial surge.
The pattern fits the familiar memecoin dynamic in which fast-moving automated actors capture spikes, leaving later retail buyers holding tokens after prices fall.
That retail pain sits in sharp contrast with the revenues reported by the token's founder. A financial disclosure filed at the end of June shows the president reported receiving $636 million tied to the $TRUMP memecoin, listed as royalties and related crypto income. That sum was roughly half of the $1.4 billion the disclosure lists as the president's crypto industry earnings for the previous year.
Reporting in the New York Times, which relayed Nansen's analysis, described how the token's promotional push and fee arrangements channelled payouts to businesses linked to the project even as later buyers lost value. The account underlines how memecoins can create concentrated paydays for insiders and early sellers while exposing ordinary buyers to steep downside.
The token's launch and the policy backdrop are part of the broader story. $TRUMP was announced three days before the president's inauguration in January 2025. Since then the administration has overseen changes that supporters say encouraged crypto activity and critics say weakened oversight. The Securities and Exchange Commission has in certain cases declined to treat memecoins as securities, and multiple enforcement actions were paused or dropped, moves critics argue reduced scrutiny of high-risk tokens.
A White House spokesperson told the New York Times, "President Trump proudly made the United States the crypto capital of the world." That comment accompanies a public record in which both Nansen's loss estimate and the president's financial disclosure were available by the end of June. The ledger-level numbers and the filings cited here reflect transactions and disclosures through June 30.
The episode highlights how quickly wealth can shift inside crypto markets. Early and fast sellers can turn token mania into large gains. Later, slower-moving retail participants can endure heavy losses that add up to billions once tallied on-chain. Nansen's analysis and the financial disclosure together show the asymmetry: large aggregate losses among nearly a million wallets, alongside hundreds of millions paid to the project's founder.
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The ledger count, 988,905 wallets underwater and about $3.8bn in losses through 30 June, is a concrete measure of how memecoin mania channelled hundreds of millions to insiders while retail buyers took the hit. Whether regulators reopen paused enforcement actions will be decisive.
This article was created with AI assistance.
