Trump’s ‘official’ crypto soars

President-elect Donald Trump’s “official” meme coin, TRUMP, has surged to a near $14 billion market capitalization within hours of its launch, according to cryptocurrency trackers. The Solana-based meme token was unveiled early on Saturday, two days before Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States.

The token started trading at an opening price of $0.1824, but within five hours had jumped over 8,000%, trading at roughly $14.4 as of 08:00 GMT, according to Dexscreener. Its market cap stood at $14 billion at the time. Over 66,000 buyers have so far bought the token, outpacing the nearly 18,000 sellers. Liquidity also surged, topping $388 million.

Trump announced the launch of the coin on his official Truth Social and X accounts.”My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW,” the president-elect wrote on his social media platform.

The crypto community initially voiced concerns about the token’s legitimacy, with some warning of a possible hack or social engineering scheme. Pseudonymous blockchain engineer cygaar noted on X that the project’s official website mirrors those of Trump’s previous NFT collections and suggested that “either this is the greatest cyber heist of all time, or this is legitimate.” However, as Trump’s posts remained online, and with Polymarket data suggesting only a 10% chance of account compromise, skepticism began to subside, pushing the price of the token further up.

The token’s explosive growth has also drawn concerns regarding its allocation.“80% of the token supply is locked in a multisignature wallet, amounting to $3 billion controlled by the creator, who also added $40 million in liquidity,” Conor Grogan, head of product business operations at Coinbase, said in a post on X, adding that the project was seeded with millions of dollars of funds from Binance and Gate, two exchanges that don’t serve US customers. Other analysts noted that 80% of the token’s circulating supply is allocated to Fight Fight Fight LLC and CIC Digital LLC, entities linked to the Trump Organization, with only 20% of the supply split equally between public investors and liquidity.

The launch of TRUMP comes as the president-elect continues to align himself with cryptocurrency initiatives. Once an outspoken crypto-skeptic, he made a U-turn during his election campaign and pledged to reshape the US cryptocurrency landscape to make the country the “crypto capital of the planet.” Paul Atkins, Trump’s pick to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is expected to spearhead these efforts. A known crypto advocate and former SEC commissioner, Atkins will replace Gary Gensler, who has been criticized for his crackdown on the industry.

Three applications received for new stock exchange and four for commodity exchange

Kathmandu, April 24: The Nepal Securities Board has received three applications for the operation of the new stock exchange market and four applications for opening the commodity exchange market.

According to Sebon, Himalaya Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange and Annapurna Stock Exchange have applied for the approval of the regulator to start stock exchange business.

Similarly, Nepal Multi Commodity Exchange, Himalayan Commodity and Derivative Exchange, Multi Assets Derivative Exchange and Multi Derivative Exchange are willing to operate the commodity exchange market.

Although the stock exchange will be a parallel institution with the existing Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE), the commodity exchange market will be the first and new institution within the country.

The stock market continues to fall

On the first trading day of the week, NEPSE drops by 11.46 points and halts at 1926.28.

Similarly, the sensitive index also decreased by 2.10 points and stopped at 374.73 points.
Today, when 25,24,224 shares of 221 companies were traded, the total transaction amount reached 74,72,26,625 rupees. In today’s business, all sub-indices except others have decreased.

Petition in the Supreme Court demanding recognition of cryptocurrency

A writ petition has been filed in the Supreme Court today demanding the recognition of the cryptocurrency.

Advocate Sagar Baral and others filed a petition in the Supreme Court demanding that the decision of Nepal Rastra Bank not to give legal recognition to digital currency including crypto should be annulled and that digital currency should be given legal recognition.

In the writ, the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Nepal Rastra Bank, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Home Affairs, and the Nepal Police Headquarters have been made opponents. The preliminary hearing on the application will be held next Monday.

A double-digit decline in the stock market

On the second trading day of the week, today NEPSE decreased by 17.68 and closed down at 2106.15. Similarly, the sensitive index also decreased by 3.44 and stopped at 406.11 points.

Today, 65,27,414 shares of 214 companies were traded, and the total transaction amount reached 2,857,072,961 rupees. In today’s business, all other sub-indices except the Manufacture & production and Mutual funds have decreased. Today, Gurans Microfinance and Himalayan Hydropower managed to trade on a positive circuit level.

Greenery in the stock market after monetary policy

After the announcement of the monetary policy for the financial year 2079/80, the stock market increased by 61.05 points on Sunday and increased by 54.45 points to 2132.96 on Monday.

NEPSE index increased by 2. 62% While the sensitive index measuring the turnover of ‘A’ class companies has also increased by 9.05 points to 407.38 points.

Along with the NEPSE index, the trading amount has also increased to 4,106,818,941 rupees. All the sub-indices went green with 7 companies trading in a positive circuit while 9,944,048 shares were traded of 214 companies.

The stock market continues to decline

The Nepali stock market, which has been declining for a long time, suddenly rose by 94.92 points on Sunday, but the gradual decline of Nepse has not stopped.

Tuesday Nepse stopped at 1921.31 falling by 11.82 points. Today’s toatal share turnover shrunk to Rs.1,058,263,522 declining by 0.61 percent . With the trading of 3,037,680 shares of 230 companies, all indicators except bank and life insurance declined.

Capital market to be open on friday

The capital market is set to open on Friday after public holidays been added on sunday.

According to the Securities and Exchange Board, the regulatory body of the capital market, the capital market had been closed on Friday and Saturday before this. Even though the government has fixed two days of public holiday, the capital market will remain open for five days as before.

According to Board Chairman Ramesh Hamal, the capital market will be open for five days. Earlier it was closed on Friday and Saturday but now it will be closed on Saturday and Sunday.

Similarly, according to the chairman of the board Hamal, Nepalese in foreign employment will be allowed to fill ordinary share IPO from the next fiscal year. Hamal informed that a certain quota will be allocated for them.

Ramesh Hamal, chairman of the board, said that the report prepared by the government by forming a task force will be implemented after the report is passed by the cabinet.

NRB to launch digital currency in domestic market

Although the government has not been able to legalize the use of virtual currency, Nepal Rastra Bank is preparing to introduce digital currency in the domestic market.

Many countries have started issuing digital currency to facilitate seamless transfer of value with lower transaction costs. Speaking at an event on Wednesday, NRB Deputy Governor Bam Bahadur Mishra said the central bank was ready to replace the use of physical currency with virtual currency. As India prepares to launch a digital version of its currency by the end of March 2023, Nepal Rastra Bank appears keen to bring in digital currency.

NRB has formed a task force to study the feasibility of implementing digital currency in Nepal. A committee has also been formed under the coordination of Deputy Governor Mishra to give necessary suggestions regarding the use of digital currency.

Nepse index declined by 44.56 points

The Nepse index has declined by 44.56 points to 2419.80 points on the first trading day of the week today .

The Sensitive Index, which measures the trading activity of Class A companies, also fell by 8.87 points. The transaction amount exceeded Rs 2 billion. A total of 5 million 95 thousand 834 shares of 233 companies were traded through 40 thousand 507 transactions during the day. Out of which, the transaction amount has reached Rs. 2 billion 267 million 86 thousand 628.

Bitcoin price gone down over 30%.

At the time we prepare this report, Bitcoin (BTC) price is $47173 and it has gone down nearly over 30% from its record high of $69,000, but it has emerged as one of the best-performing financial assets in 2021. BTC has bested the United States benchmark index the S&P 500 and gold.

Arcane Research noted in its new report that Bitcoin’s year-to-date performance came out to be nearly 73%. In comparison, the S&P 500 index surged 28%, and gold dropped by 7% in the same period, which marks the third consecutive year that Bitcoin has outperformed the two.

Source: Arcane Research