The creators of the TRUMP meme coin have moved over $52 million worth of tokens to centralized exchanges, sparking debate about the project’s motives and transparency.
The token, themed after US President Donald Trump, has gained massive attention since its launch, but now faces scrutiny over insider activity and market impact.
TRUMP Team Describes $52 Million Token Transfer as ‘Liquidity Operations’
On May 10, on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain revealed that the team behind TRUMP deposited 3.5 million tokens, valued at more than $52 million, across three major exchanges—Binance, OKX, and Bybit.
According to the firm, Binance received the largest share at 1.5 million tokens, estimated at $22 million. OKX followed with 1 million tokens worth $15 million, while Bybit received just over 500,000 tokens valued at $7.5 million.
However, the TRUMP token team claimed the transfer aimed to strengthen liquidity and maintain stable market access.
They explained that the tokens came from a pre-designated liquidity wallet created during the project’s launch. The team also assured users that all recently unlocked tokens had been relocked and would remain so for 90 days.
“Demand for $TRUMP has been tremendous. On May 10, 2025 at approximately 1:30 am UTC, 3.5 million $TRUMP will be moved onto exchanges to further support liquidity operations to help ensure continued availability of $TRUMP for both buyers and sellers. All of this liquidity is being provided from a liquidity wallet from the initial launch,” the team stated.
While the team maintains that the token transfers are part of routine liquidity management, recent findings suggest a different story.
A CNBC report, citing Chainalysis, revealed that the team behind TRUMP has earned over $320 million in trading fees.
Furthermore, there is a wide gap between investor outcomes. Of more than two million wallets holding TRUMP, roughly 760,000 are currently at a loss.
In sharp contrast, only 58 wallets have each made over $10 million, together netting about $1.1 billion in profits.
This stark imbalance suggests that a small group of insiders may have captured most of the value generated by the token.
According to BeInCrypto data, the token surged to $77 on its first trading day. However, it has since plummeted by 86%, trading near $14 at the time of writing.
Since its launch in late March, World Liberty Financial’s stablecoin USD1 has achieved an impressive market capitalization, reflecting strong investor interest. If the creators want to maximize USD1’s reach by accessing markets abroad, particularly in Europe, they must confront MiCA’s extensive compliance list.
In a BeInCrypto interview, experts from Foresight Ventures, Kaiko, and Brickken stressed the importance of stablecoin issuers having substantial European bank reserves, operational volume caps protecting the euro, and transparent USD1 information to ensure transparency and avoid conflicts of interest.
USD1’s Search for Dollar Dominance
World Liberty Financial (WLF), a decentralized finance (DeFi) project heavily associated with the Trump family, officially launched USD1 a month ago. Through this stablecoin, WLF aims to promote dollar dominance worldwide.
So far, this initiative has been working well for WLF. According to CoinGecko, USD1 has now surpassed a market capitalization of $128 million and reached a 24-hour trading volume of nearly $41.6 million. The project has already released 100% of its total supply of 127,971,165 tokens.
USD1’s market capitalization over the past 24 hours. Source: CoinGecko.
For WLF to seriously establish dollar dominance across the globe, it will have to move fast and efficiently. This urgency stems from the need to surpass its main competitors, USDT and USDC. These rivals currently hold a massive market share advantage.
Additionally, there’s a need to maintain a competitive advantage against established currencies like the euro.
USD1 needs to access foreign markets and stand out from established competitors to achieve this. Should Europe become a primary target, USD1 must prepare to tackle numerous challenges head-on.
The EU’s Stringent Compliance Demands
The European Union (EU) became the first jurisdiction in the world to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets across its 27 member states. This regulation, known as Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA), has been in effect for nearly four months. Through this legislation, the EU has confirmed how seriously it takes compliance with a defined regulatory regime.
The regulation is detailed and clear, leaving no room for interpretation. If USD1 wants to operate in this crypto market of 31 million users, it must ensure it meets every demand.
US Senators Flag Risks of Presidential Involvement in USD1
In the letter, the group asked both agencies to clarify how they plan to uphold regulatory integrity following the issuance of USD1.
The Senators cautioned that letting a president personally benefit from a digital currency overseen by federal agencies he has sway over is a big risk to the financial system. They argued that an unprecedented situation like this one could hurt people’s trust in how regulations are made.
“The launch of a stablecoin directly tied to a sitting President who stands to benefit financially from the stablecoin’s success presents unprecedented risks to our financial system,” they argued.
The letter further detailed situations where Trump could directly or indirectly affect decisions regarding USD1.
As things stand, USD1 isn’t well-prepared to follow MiCA’s strict reporting and transparency rules.
How Do Concerns Over USD1 Impact MiCA Acquisition?
According to Ianeva-Aubert, if USD1 doesn’t clear up doubts over potential conflicts of interest, this would affect its ability to apply for an operating license in the European Union.
“MiCA requires strong governance, including independent directors and clear separation between owners and managers. Issuers must have clear rules to handle conflicts of interest. If USD1 has any conflicts, this could make it harder to comply,” she said.
Ianeva-Aubert also highlighted that WLF still hasn’t released enough public information on USD1 to assess the degree of its compliance effectively. In particular, the stablecoin issuer has not disclosed the measures it would take to safeguard against market manipulation.
As of now, USD1 would likely fail MiCA’s transparency tests. However, industry experts pointed out other parts of the framework that might be even larger obstacles for USD1 to operate across the European Union.
Impact of the EU’s Reserve Mandate on USD1
When asked about the biggest regulatory hurdles USD1 would face in securing a MiCA license, experts’ responses were unanimous. The stablecoin would need to store a large portion of its reserves in a European bank.
This mandate has proven difficult for established stablecoin issuers seeking operations across the region.
This regulation aims to ensure seamless accessibility for European crypto users and traders. For Forest Bai, Co-founder of Foresight Ventures, USD1 could capitalize on this opportunity during the early stages of its development. By doing so, it could avoid some of the obstacles its competitors had to endure.
Yet, even as USD1 scales and its demand grows, other mandatory requirements could restrict its scope of success.
MiCA’s Transaction Volume Caps to Preserve Euro Dominance
As part of the MiCA regulation, the European Union has taken specific measures to safeguard the euro’s dominance. If a digital currency not denominated in euros were to become extensively adopted for daily payments within Europe, it could present a potential risk to the European Union’s financial sovereignty and the stability of the euro.
To contain this possibility, MiCA places volume caps on transactions used as a means of exchange within the EU.
In other words, MiCA establishes predefined limits on the transactional volume of such currencies. The EU initiates regulatory measures when these limits are exceeded due to widespread payment usage.
Specifically, USD1 issuers must suspend any further digital currency issuance and provide a remediation plan to the relevant regulator, outlining steps to ensure their usage does not negatively impact the euro.
If USD1 wants to work in places where it can experience uninhibited growth, the European market might not be the best fit for this stablecoin. Other parts of MiCA also suggest this could be the case.
MiCA Limitations to Stablecoins as Investment Vehicles
EU regulators have been clear that stablecoins, or e-money tokens (EMTs), as the regulation refers to them, are payment instruments that should not be confused with investment vehicles. The MiCA framework has a few rules in place to prevent this.
Given the circumstances, experts like Bai think WLF might want to focus on countries with better market conditions for stablecoin issuers.
Should WLF Consider the EU Market for USD1 Operations?
While the European Union has an undeniable crypto market presence, other jurisdictions have an even larger footprint.
”The EU’s crypto market remains comparatively small, with just 31 million users versus Asia’s 263 million and North America’s 38 million users, according to a report from Euronews. This limited market size may not justify MiCA compliance costs for projects, like WLFI,” Bai told BeInCrypto, adding that “Projects ultimately determine their own growth strategy. Given that, currently, the EU represents a secondary market for USD1, the project’s strategic priorities may naturally shift toward regions with less stringent stablecoin regulations to drive its adoption.”
These circumstances alone may prompt USD1 to reconsider its options.
In fact, USD1 could start by gaining a competitive edge right at home.
USD1’s Political Backing at Home
With a crypto-friendly president in office –whose very crypto project officially announced the launch of USD1– the stablecoin has sufficient backing to make its mark.
Looking past the immediate future, Bai underlined that if the US doesn’t keep developing supportive crypto regulations, USD1’s growth in the country could be held back following a government shift.
Given this reality, USD1’s failure to comply with the EU’s regulations, should it ever even consider applying for a MiCA license in the first place, could have negative consequences for the project’s long-term viability.
Regardless of the markets WLF evaluates in its efforts to increase the reach of USD1, compliance with general stipulations concerning transparency, legal architecture, and real-time transaction oversight could be conducive to its eventual success.
Pi Network’s PI token seems to have entered a consolidation phase, as the price action has leveled off. Since April 16, the token has faced resistance at $0.66 while finding support at $0.60, creating a narrow trading range.
This signals a period of indecision in the market, with neither PI buyers nor sellers taking full control.
PI’s Price Action in Limbo
Readings from PI’s Aroon indicator confirm the recent stagnation in its price. As of this writing, the token’s Aroon Up Line (yellow) is at 0%, while its Aroon Down Line (blue) is in decline at 14.29%.
The Aroon indicator identifies market trends and determines whether a trend is strong or weak.
A 0% reading on the Aroon Up Line suggests that PI has not reached a new high recently, signaling a lack of upward momentum. Meanwhile, the Aroon Down Line’s decline to 14.29% indicates that the token has not been experiencing significant downward pressure either.
This trend suggests a balanced market, where neither bulls nor bears are taking the lead. The setup confirms that PI is in a consolidation phase, with a breakout in either direction dependent on shifts in market sentiment.
Further, the steady decline in PI’s Average True Range (ATR) since early March confirms the decrease in its market volatility and the shift towards consolidation. At press time, this indicator stands at 0.07.
The ATR indicator measures market volatility by calculating the average range between the high and low prices over a set period. When it falls like this, it indicates a decrease in market volatility, suggesting that price movements are becoming less erratic.
This often signals a period of consolidation or indecision in the market, as traders await a potential breakout or shift in direction. For PI, this is evident as both buyers and sellers hesitate, waiting for a catalyst to drive their next moves.
Will Bullish Momentum Drive PI to $1 or Will Bears Retake Control?
A breakout—whether to the upside or downside—could signal the start of a new trend, making PI a token to watch in the coming days. If bullish pressure soars and demand for the altcoin spikes, its price could witness a rally and attempt to break above the resistance at $0.66.
A successful breach of this level could propel PI’s price to $1.
The Solana Foundation has launched the Solana Attestation Service (SAS). This is a decentralized identity verification protocol designed to simplify compliance and enhance trust across the network.
Announced on May 23, the tool allows applications to validate off-chain data, such as Know Your Customer (KYC) checks and user accreditation. It does this without directly handling sensitive user information.
Solana Launches Identity Layer Amid Rising Global Crypto Interest
Solana Foundationsaid SAS introduces cryptographically signed, reusable credentials that trusted parties can issue. Once verified, users can seamlessly interact with multiple platforms without repeating onboarding or verification steps.
“SAS enables compliance, access control, reputation systems, and programmable identity across the Solana ecosystem. It’s a better, easier experience for both end users and builders,” the Solana Foundation stated.
This design removes the need for developers to maintain identity backends, significantly lowering the barrier for integrating compliance features.
According to the Foundation, SAS supports a wide range of use cases. These include DeFi compliance, access control in blockchain games, Sybil resistance in DAOs, and location-based verification for connected devices.
Builders can use the tool to enforce region-based restrictions, establish user uniqueness, and create programmable reputation systems.
SAS marks the first release from the newly established Solana Identity Group, a coalition of contributors including Civic, Solana.ID, Solid, Trusta Labs, and the Foundation itself. The group aims to develop privacy-preserving identity primitives tailored for the Web3 era.
Meanwhile, the launch comes amid rising interest from traditional finance in Solana’s infrastructure. Nzube Ezido, country lead for Solana Superteam NG, described SAS as a critical piece of the network’s evolving financial stack.
“This might be one of the most important primitives launched in a very long time. As we quickly ramp up on the capital market narrative, oracles that keep RWA in sync will need this to offer trust for on-chain to off-chain state,” Ezido stated.
Over the past months, several traditional financial institutions have been exploring the network’s potential for asset tokenization due to its speed, scalability, and low fees.
This is evidenced by the fact that R3—a blockchain infrastructure provider with over $10 billion in assets on its Corda platform—was partnering with Solana. The collaboration aims to onboard clients like HSBC and other major financial institutions to leverage the network’s features.
