By Elizabeth Howcroft, Rae Wee and Michelle Conlin PARIS/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The crypto project connected to President Donald Trump, World Liberty Financial, raised $1 billion in token sales, the company said on Monday,

Days ahead of Trump's inauguration as President of the United States, scheduled for Monday, Jan. 20, Trump launched the $TRUMP memecoin on crypto platform Solana. The President-elect posted the news from his official X account, making it as official as can be.

Donald Trump did not mention crypto during his inauguration speech, leaving crypto traders' heightened expectations somewhat unfulfilled.

The memecoin sector is full of joke tokens offering little intrinsic value and lots of volatility, feeding criticism of the nascent industry as frivolous and risky.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on House Financial Services Committee, called Trump memecoin project a worst of crypto.

According to California Representative Maxine Waters, investors in the TRUMP token will be “left holding the bag” as only project insiders profit.

Donald Trump’s new cryptocurrency has soared ahead of his inauguration. The $Trump token drew in billions in trading volume, giving it a market capitalization of about $12 billion.

A president-elect launching a new business product is a highly unusual move, and it is a major concern for ethics watchdogs.

The price of bitcoin has surged to over $109,000 just hours ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, as a pumped up cryptocurrency industry expects early action by him soon after he takes