Trump picks Caroline Pham as acting CFTC Chair

  • Caroline Pham, the primary advocate for Digital assets “regulatory sandbox”
  • U.S. President Donald Trump is yet to pick a permanent chair for CFTC.

US elect President Donald Trump has picked Commissioner Caroline Pham as the acting Commodity and Futures Trading Commission chair. The CFTC confirmed the appointment via a press release on Jan. 20.

Trump selected Caroline Pham as the acting chair for the agency and she was voted in by the five members of the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission.

“I’m looking forward to engaging with all stakeholders in this new capacity as we focus on the CFTC’s mission to promote well-functioning markets that support economic growth and the competitiveness of the United States,” the acting CFTC chair said in a statement.

Pham, who worked with the former administration of Joe Biden, was the brain behind multiple projects at CFTC. At CFTC, she championed the digital assets regulatory framework. She promoted the creation of a Digital Asset Markets subcommittee that would come up with governance and risk management proposals.

She also promoted the digital assets “regulatory sandbox” in the US in 2023 setting ground for the emergence of new technologies and a pilot program for digital assets.

Donald Trump is yet to publicly declare the permanent holder of the chairperson’s post at CFTC. The current holder of the position Rostin Behnam had earlier this month reported that he planned to leave the office by Feb 7.

Speculations have that the former CFTC commissioner Brian Quintenz may be appointed as the chair of the agency.

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Melania Trump launches official memecoin

  • Following the success of the $TRUMP token launched a day prior, Melania Trump announced the launch of the Melania memecoin late Sunday evening
  • The token’s launch caused congestion in the Solana network and drained liquidity from the $TRUMP and other memecoins

Late Sunday evening, incoming First Lady Melania Trump announced the launch of the official Melania memecoin, $MELANIA, roughly 24 hours after President-elect Donald Trump launched his $TRUMP token.

The announcement was made on her X profile and followed a similar pattern to Donald Trump’s: a website was provided with the option to buy with a credit card or cryptocurrency.

The market’s reaction to the drop was sharper than Trump’s as market reactions were more immediate.

Onchain data showed that other memecoins and some altcoins suffered price declines as attention and liquidity flowed to the $MELANIA token.

The token, which launched at $0.048 on Dexscreener, reached a high of $13.61 in the early morning of Monday January 20 before pulling back to $10.31 as of publication.

Meanwhile, the price of the $TRUMP token nosedived when the $MELANIA token was launched, falling from $73.50 to $30.94. However, it has regained some ground, rising to $53.51 as of publishing, as the Trump presidential inauguration draws close.

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Bitcoin hits $109,000 ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration

  • Bitcoin’s new high surpasses its previous all-time high of $108,000 reached in December
  • President-elect Donald Trump was once critical of Bitcoin, claiming it seemed “like a scam”
  • On the eve of his inauguration, Trump and Melania Trump launched their memecoins

Bitcoin soared to new heights, hitting over $109,000 ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The number one crypto asset reached its all-time high on January 20 as market sentiment remains optimistic about Trump’s plans for the crypto industry. The new high surpasses its previous record of more than $108,000 achieved in December.

Data from TradingView shows Bitcoin topped $109,036 around 6:55 am before dropping to $107,000 a few minutes later.

BTC/USD Chart by TradingView

Trump mentioned Bitcoin in a Sunday speech, highlighting its record performance since the US election.

“Since the election, the stock market has surged and small business optimism has soared a record 41 points to a 39-year high,” Trump said. “Bitcoin has shattered one record high after another.”

Support for crypto

Once critical of Bitcoin who said that it “seems like a scam” a few years ago, Trump has since embraced crypto, showing his support for it during his presidential election.

During his campaign trail, he vowed to make the US the “crypto capital” of the world and has appointed several crypto-friendly candidates into his incoming administration. Some familiar names include Paul Atkins as the next US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair and crypto czar David Sacks.

Trump is also expected to sign an executive order prioritizing crypto when he enters the White House today.

On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, he launched his $TRUMP memecoin, which, at one point, was valued at $75 per coin, according to data from CoinMarketCap. At the time of publishing, it’s trading at $51 with a market cap of more than $10 billion.

Incoming First Lady Melania Trump also launched her memecoin, $MELANIA, which was trading at a high of $13. It has since dropped to $10 with a market cap of over $2 billion.

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Coinbase and Binance plan to list $TRUMP after its excellent debut

  • Major exchanges are planning to list the $TRUMP token following its phenomenal debut
  • iDEGEN’s presale has surpassed $17 million as the listing date draws closer

Binance and Coinbase to list $TRUMP token

$TRUMP, the official memecoin of the 47th United States president, will be listed on most major crypto exchanges. So far, Binance and Coinbase, two of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, have announced plans to list the token following its exceptional debut in the market.

The memecoin is currently the 19th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, trading at $56 per coin. In addition to Coinbase and Binance, $TRUMP is already trading on other leading exchanges, such as Bitget, KuCoin, and Kraken.

What is iDEGEN?

The Solana blockchain is the centre of attention at the moment after President-elect Donald Trump launched his official memecoin on the network. Investors are already looking at upcoming Solana-based memecoins, and one of them is iDEGEN

iDEGEN seeks to merge the AI and memecoin ecosystems, ensuring investors take advantage of both. The team added that iDEGEN is a meme project that leverages the benefits of AI to create the next billion-dollar memecoin. 

iDEGEN is an AI tool that primarily functions as such. It continuously evolves and adapts by leveraging community feeds on X. While iDEGEN is powered by AI, degens ultimately raise the tool. 

Its native token, $IDGN, will power activities within the iDEGEN ecosystem. It will launch as a memecoin thanks to the massive adoption of this narrative in recent years. In 2024, the memecoin space grew from a $20 billion market cap to $120 billion, representing a 500% growth within 12 months. 

As a Solana-based memecoin, $IDGN could become one of the best performers in 2025 once it launches on exchanges in February. 

In their whitepaper, the team explained that users feed the iDEGEN tool their data through tweets, tags, and comments. It absorbs the post and adds it to its knowledge base; that’s how it learns. Furthermore, iDEGEN posts on X every 60 minutes and can generate and post memes. 

iDEGEN’s presale surpassed $17m

The iDEGEN presale is ending in 37 days, and the team has raised $17.2 million so far. In this current stage, the $IDGN token is going for $0.011, with the price set to increase to $0.0121 in the next stage. In the last presale stage, $IDGN will go for $0.038, giving early investors a massive ROI before the token launches on exchanges. 

Once the presale ends, $IDGN will list on centralized and decentralized exchanges. $IDGN currently has over 20k holders with an accumulated 9,900% return on investments. 

Is now a good time to buy $IDGN tokens?

The impressive rally of the $TRUMP token showed investors what is possible with memecoins. iDEGEN is a Solana-based memecoin that will hit the memecoin in a month and could experience a surge in price once that happens. 

Last year, memecoins and AI tokens outperformed other narratives, and this could repeat itself this year. By combining these two narratives, iDEGEN could present early investors with an excellent project. 

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iDEGEN, Solana rides on Trump’s meme coin and policies

The crypto market is expected to record a major bull run in 2025 and Donald Trump’s return to the Oval Office is the main bullish catalyst to watch out for in the short term. In fact, it has boosted majors like BTC and Solana while while pushing more savvy investors to look for opportunities in fresh meme coins like iDEGEN.  

As the first pro-crypto US president, analysts and investors alike expect his administration to enact favorable policies as soon as he’s sworn in. Indeed, he is not only pro-crypto, he is an investor in the sector. On Friday, the incumbent president launched a meme coin on the Solana network. As at the time of writing, it was trading at $23.08 with a market cap of $4.61 billion.

Based on CMC’s altcoin season index, it is still Bitcoin season at the current level of 49. However, more savvy investors are shifting their attention to calternatives with AI meme coins leading the pack. Top of the list is iDEGEN; a one-of-a-kind social experiment with unmatched potential.

Newly-launched $TRUMP bolsters Solana price to a 6-week high

SOL/USD rallied to a 6-week high on Saturday following the launch of Donald Trump’s meme coin, $TRUMP, on the Solana network. 

Over the years, Trump has morphed from a cryptocurrency critic to the first pro-crypto US president, and now the owner of a meme coin. With his inauguration slated for 20th January, crypto enthusiasts are more convinced that he will foster a conducive environment for the digital assets to thrive. 

In fact, reports have it that Trump may soon release an executive order to have crypto as a national priority. It is this positive sentiment that has boosted the crypto fear & greed index from last week’s neutral level of 50 to a greed level of 75 as seen on Binance.  

Subsequently, Bitcoin hit a one-month high on Friday with altcoins like Solana benefiting from the rallying. A look at SOL/USD daily chart shows the formation of a bullish golden cross, which points to further gains. 

With an RSI of 68, the altcoin is approaching the overbought territory. As such, it may record a corrective pullback with $225 and $209.90 being support levels worth watching. On the upside, the bulls will be keen on breaking the resistance at $247 to retest the all-time high it hit in November 2024 at $263.

iDEGEN’s potential for explosive growth to sustain its virality 

The crypto market is set to record a major bull run in 2025 as a pro-crypto US administration, heightened adaption, and strategic reserves boost the sector. With that, savvy investors understand that the real opportunity lies in finding the next big thing while it’s still in the budding stage.  

iDEGEN, a social experiment revolutionizing the AI meme coin space, is among the top projects on investors’ radar. In fact, even before hitting the public shelves, it has already raised over $17 million. A steadily growing number of meme coin enthusiasts is amassing $IDGN tokens ahead of its listing on 27th February. Indeed, the existing holders are already sitting on hefty gains with returns of 9,900%.

For those looking for a cheaper alternative with the potential for maximum returns, iDEGEN fits the bill. In addition to leveraging on the power of artificial intelligence, it has no restrictions and relies solely on its community to learn and adapt. It is this trifactor that has resulted in its virality with over 1400 $IDGN tokens already sold. 

As Trump returns to the Oval Office, the opportunity to jump onto this bandwagon is indismissible. Fartcoin and ai16z, AI meme coins that were launched in October 2024, are already past the $1 billion market cap. With its immense potential, iDEGEN is set to compete with such projects in coming months. 

Learn more about iDEGEN here.

Bitcoin price hits one-month high ahead of Trump’s inauguration

On Saturday, Bitcoin price held steady above the psychologically crucial level of 100,000 after dropping below the support zone of 90,000 earlier in the week. As at the time of writing, the crypto major was trading at $104,592 as the market reacted to the launch of Trump’s meme coin two days ahead of his swearing-in ceremony. 

A look at its daily chart shows the continuation of a bullish trend as it continues to trade above the 20 and 50-day EMAs. However, with an RSI of 64, the crypto is approaching the overbought territory. 

At its current level, the bulls are striving to break the resistance at $106,145. If successful, Bitcoin price will likely retest the all-time high it hit in mid-December 2024 as the bulls gather additional momentum to hit a new record high at $110,000. 

On the flip side, getting to the overbought territory may yield a corrective pullback to find support at $102,090. Below that level, $98,500 will be a level worth watching. 

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