Weekend Recap: Trump’s Crypto Surge, Tornado Cash Hits MegaETH, Solo Miner Scores $266K and More

This weekend saw significant crypto developments, including a surge in the TRUMP token after President Trump’s endorsement, Tornado Cash launching on MegaETH testnet, a solo Bitcoin miner winning big, and clarifications on the IMF’s stance on Bitcoin.

TRUMP Token Surges After Trump’s Social Media Praise

The Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin surged over 12% to $12.25 within 40 minutes on March 23 after former U.S. President Donald Trump praised it on Truth Social, calling it “SO COOL” and “The greatest of them all.”

• Trump’s post added nearly $250 million to the token’s market cap, briefly reaching $2.75 billion.
• TRUMP token became the eighth most-traded crypto asset over 24 hours, with $1.4 billion in trading volume.
• Despite the spike, the token later retraced to around $11.82.
• One whale trader lost $207,000 during the volatility.

Tornado Cash Deployed on MegaETH Testnet

Crypto privacy mixer Tornado Cash has been deployed on the MegaETH testnet, a new Ethereum layer-2 blockchain aiming to improve scalability.

• The deployment followed the U.S. Treasury Department’s removal of Tornado Cash from its sanctions list on March 21.
• MegaETH claims to offer 10 millisecond block times and handle around 20,000 transactions per second.
• It’s unclear when a full mainnet launch will occur.

Solo Bitcoin Miner Wins $266K Reward

A solo Bitcoin miner using a small mining rig (likely under 1 TH/s) successfully mined Bitcoin block 888,989, earning a reward of approximately $266,552.

• The miner received 3.15 BTC, including the block subsidy and transaction fees.
• The odds of mining a block with such a small rig are estimated at one in 4.6 million per day.
• This follows another recent solo mining success on March 10, where a miner with a 0.48 TH/s rig earned $263,000.

IMF Clarifies Bitcoin Classification, Not “Digital Gold”

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) clarified its stance on Bitcoin in its latest manual, categorizing crypto assets as mediums of exchange and potential stores of value, but did not label Bitcoin as “digital gold.”

• Some crypto industry members mistakenly interpreted the IMF’s statements as an endorsement of Bitcoin as digital gold.
• The IMF distinguished between fungible and non-fungible tokens, classifying NFTs as either mediums of exchange or securities.

Other Notable Crypto News

• Tether is reportedly working with a Big Four accounting firm to audit its $143.5 billion asset reserves, aiming for greater transparency under the Trump administration.
• Pakistan’s Crypto Council proposed using excess energy for Bitcoin mining and is exploring regulatory frameworks to attract crypto investments.