Two cryptocurrencies linked to US President Donald Trump fell sharply on Wednesday after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, even as major digital assets rose. The results have also raised questions about the outlook for the tokens and the prospects for US crypto legislation.
Official Trump (TRUMP) dropped 17% in 24 hours to $1.33, while World Liberty Financial (WLFI) fell more than 7% to $0.047, according to CoinMarketCap data at around 5:32 p.m. UTC. The figures made them the two biggest decliners among the top 100 cryptocurrencies. TRUMP is the president’s official memecoin, launched in January 2025; WLFI is the governance token of the Trump family-backed decentralized finance project World Liberty Financial, launched in 2024.
The losses followed Democratic victories in Tuesday’s elections, including surprise wins in Texas. The results could complicate Trump’s efforts to advance his crypto agenda and bring greater scrutiny to his family’s crypto ventures. They have also prompted questions about whether political affiliations alone can sustain demand for tokens.
The wider market moved in the opposite direction. Bitcoin rose more than 4% to about $80,500, and Ether gained 6% to $2,433. BNB advanced 3%, XRP rose 2.6% and Solana gained 2.5%. The overall crypto market increased 3.4% to $2.69 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Other politically linked tokens also fell. The MELANIA memecoin, associated with First Lady Melania Trump, lost nearly 13% to about $0.066. VANCE, a token named after Vice President JD Vance but with no confirmed official connection to him, dropped nearly 12%. The political memecoin sector’s total market capitalization declined more than 16% to $477 million, while trading volume rose 123% to $437 million.
Benjamin Sarquis Peillard, founder and CEO of DeFi platform Cap, told Cointelegraph that politically linked tokens may react more directly to changes in expectations about Washington than established cryptocurrencies, whose prices also reflect liquidity, institutional flows and broader economic conditions. He said the selloff may be a short-term response to the election, while the longer-term issue is what will support demand for the tokens beyond their political associations.
The election outcome also adds uncertainty around US digital-asset legislation, including the stalled Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act. The bill, intended to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, failed to advance in the Senate earlier this year after falling short of the 60 votes needed. Democrats had sought stronger ethics provisions and safeguards against conflicts of interest involving Trump’s crypto ventures; four Republicans also opposed advancing the measure.
Peillard said the results could affect the pace and direction of digital-asset legislation, with political tokens particularly exposed to shifts in investor expectations about the political environment. The impact of the election on crypto legislation remains unclear.
Sources: Cointelegraph.