Trump Musk spat leads to meme coin wars

Yesterday’s sharp escalation in the beef between President Donald Trump and his former “First Buddy,” Elon Musk, has spilled out into the meme coin arena. Will $Trump lose its crown to $Musk?

Things took a wild turn when Elon Musk, Trump’s erstwhile ally and advisor, lashed out on his platform X with the tweet: @RealDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!"

Predictably, X users and crypto enthusiasts quickly rallied around Musk. The billionaire mogul has a cult-like following among many in the sector, with his eccentric social media presence, dedication to memes, and ties to the dominant meme coin $Doge inspiring dozens of new tokens every week.

A brand new “Official Elon Meme” $Musk coin appeared yesterday, taking the markets by storm.

It’s pitched as a direct competitor to the Trump-family-endorsed “Official Trump Meme” $Trump coin, which was launched earlier this year in somewhat controversial circumstances. The coin was promoted by the president himself and surged to the top of the meme coin rankings with a staggering $1 billion market cap. However, it left a bitter taste in the mouths of many crypto users who believe that insiders and Trump family members took early advantage of the hype to snag the lion’s share of the profits.

With the launch of $Musk, many are seeing the chance to get a modicum of revenge. It’s fair to say that, in general, crypto users are team Musk in this showdown and would love nothing more than to deliver a blow to Trump’s ego (and wallet) by usurping his meme coin at the top of the rankings.

There’s a long way to go – after a few hours, the $Musk coin currently sits on a $7 million market cap, far behind the billion of $Trump. But the race is on. Who will win the meme coin wars?