Just days ahead of his return to the White House, President Trump and his wife Melania launched a pair of meme coins that have skyrocketed in value and earned them billions of dollars, at least on paper.

President Donald Trump promised crypto investors he’d usher in an era of legitimacy for an industry that’s long been relegated to the financial wilderness — dismissed by some mainstream investors as an highly speculative bet at best or an elaborate Ponzi scheme at worst.

When Donald Trump's companies released a celebrity meme coin just ahead of the presidential inauguration, it set a new standard for instant hype in a cryptocurrency launch, based on fresh research from a blockchain tax startup.