A token calling itself Trump Digital Gold (GOLD) launched on Solana on Saturday, August 29, and collapsed within under three hours in what on-chain analysts describe as a coordinated rug pull. The episode is the latest in a string of Trump-branded memecoin schemes that have cost buyers billions of dollars over the past year and a half, and it lands at a moment when European regulators are sharpening scrutiny of memecoin promotion and disclosure practices.
The token was promoted by @realtrumpcoins1, a certified X account with 42,300 followers that is followed by Donald Trump and whose bio claims a partnership with the Trump Organization. On-chain tracker Lookonchain flagged the launch as it happened. Within two hours, GOLD's market capitalisation had climbed past $50 million, peaking at $66 million according to trackers.
At 11:48 am, the promotional message was deleted from the account. Within tens of seconds, the token lost more than 95% of its value. By the end of the day, its market capitalisation stood at around $700,000, a 99% drop from its peak. The entire life of the token, from launch to collapse, lasted two hours and forty-eight minutes.
How the extraction worked
Blockchain data shows the token's developer held 600 million GOLD tokens. Fifteen newly created wallets spent $18,657 to acquire a further 224.5 million tokens, giving the team control of 82.45% of the total supply, against just under 18% held by the open market. Those fifteen wallets later sold their holdings for 3,178 SOL, roughly $330,000, a net profit of $312,000 and a 17-times return on their initial outlay. Analyst EmberCN estimated the total dump across all wallets at 824.54 million GOLD sold for approximately 9,785 SOL, or roughly $1 million.
The same account had previously promoted physical commemorative medals, not digital tokens, through the same website on August 25. Its profile now redirects to trumpcoins.com, a shop selling physical medallions with no digital assets on offer.
Denials and precedent
Real Trump Coins issued a statement in the evening denying any role in the launch. "Trump Coins n'a pas autorisé et ne lancera, ne promouvra ni n'autorisera aucun token numérique," the organisation said, attributing the deleted posts to "acteurs malveillants tiers" and stating it was now "travailler avec les autorités."
Eric Trump had already addressed rumours of Trump-linked token launches on August 22, prior to the GOLD episode. "Quelle blague… C'est absolument faux. Personne ne lance la moindre pièce. Si quelqu'un suggère le contraire, c'est une fraude," he said.
The pattern recalls the LIBRA memecoin promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei in February 2025, from which its team extracted approximately $87 million from liquidity pools before the Argentine justice system opened an investigation. It also follows the original TRUMP memecoin, which inflicted $3.8 billion in losses on buyers a year and a half ago. Neither Donald Trump, the Trump Organization, nor World Liberty Financial has been shown to have any confirmed link to the GOLD token's launch.