Wallets linked to the team behind President Donald Trump’s Solana-based TRUMP memecoin sent a large batch of tokens to Binance on March 12, adding a fresh supply overhang to a project that has crashed to an all-time low.
On March 12, blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence showed that a BitGo custodial wallet associated with the TRUMP team transferred 5 million TRUMP tokens, valued at about $14.4 million, to Binance, the largest crypto trading platform globally.
The movement followed a similar transfer in late February, when 5 million TRUMP tokens, valued at around $17.3 million, were sent to Binance via BitGo-linked custody flows.
Taken together, the deposits amount to nearly 10 million TRUMP tokens, worth about $31.7 million at the time of the transactions.
Deposits into exchange-linked wallets are closely watched because they often precede selling, especially when the sender controls a large allocation.
Blockchain data, however, only shows that tokens arrived at a venue where they can be sold; it cannot confirm whether the tokens were sold immediately or held for later execution.
In memecoin markets, teams and large holders also route inventory through market makers, which can blur the trail once custody and execution become intermediated.
Meanwhile, the latest transfer comes at a time when Binance is trying to narrow the scope of US scrutiny, after a Wall Street Journal report said the Justice Department is examining whether Iran used the exchange to evade sanctions.
However, Binance has denied any wrongdoing and sued the Journal and Dow Jones for defamation.
A vesting event becomes a supply test
In an X post, on-chain analyst EmberCN said the recent deposits were part of a larger batch of 32.5 million TRUMP tokens, valued at around $143 million, that was unlocked and moved out of a team allocation wallet in early February.
Data from DeFiLlama shows that the project recently unlocked $558.09 million worth of tokens to insiders in January. According to the data, TRUMP insiders control 80% of the token’s 1 billion total supply.
Indeed, token unlock schedules can be routine in venture-backed crypto projects.
However, they can turn into price catalysts when a newly liquid supply is controlled by insiders and begins moving toward venues with deep liquidity.
Considering the above, this kind of transfer could spark selling speculation, especially given that the TRUMP memecoin team has a history of systematically divesting from the token.
Meanwhile, this action comes as the TRUMP token price action has left little buffer for additional supply.
Data from CryptoSlate shows TRUMP has fallen to $2.73, representing a drawdown of roughly 96% from its January 2025 peak of $73.43.
While the broader crypto market has also suffered considerable losses during the period, TRUMP’s price crash has proven more significant because the token began as a political brand extension of the US president and has sparked recurring questions for ethics critics and regulators.
Moreover, the retail performance metrics have heightened political sensitivity around the token.
Last month, CryptoRank reported that losses across Trump family-linked memecoins, including TRUMP and MELANIA, had exceeded $4.3 billion, with nearly 2 million wallets underwater.
The firm noted that the main beneficiaries from these tokens were insiders, with only 45 early wallets recording about $1.2 billion in gains. It added:
“While insiders cashed out over $600M through fees and token sales, retail holders absorbed the losses at a ratio of 20-to-1: for every dollar insiders earned, ordinary investors lost $20.”
In light of this, the key question is whether the team’s newly unlocked inventory is headed toward the market, which would add further selling pressure to an already struggling token.
A web of Trump-Binance connections
All of this drama is occurring against a backdrop of deepening financial ties between the Trump family’s crypto ventures and Binance.
For context, Trump pardoned Zhao in October 2025. Prior to that, representatives of the Trump family held talks about taking a financial stake in Binance.US, the exchange’s US arm.
However, Zhao denied those claims.
Apart from that, World Liberty Financial, another crypto company associated with the Trump family, launched a dollar-pegged stablecoin called USD1, which was issued on Binance’s blockchain.
Binance subsequently used the stablecoin to receive a $2 billion investment from MGX Fund Management Limited, an investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates. At the same time, the firm has aggressively promoted the asset to its 300 million users.
All of these moves have intensified conflict-of-interest questions, given the overlap between the president’s family’s crypto business orbit and Binance’s efforts to rebuild its standing in the United States.
Meanwhile, the White House has previously said Trump’s business interests are held in a trust managed by his children, and the administration has rejected conflict-of-interest allegations tied to his crypto-related ventures.
Binance scrutiny collides with politically exposed flows
On the other hand, the TRUMP token transfer also lands amid a widening compliance spotlight on Binance in Washington.
The Wall Street Journal reported on March 11 that the Justice Department is investigating whether Iran used Binance to evade US sanctions.
Separately, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the top Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, opened an inquiry into the platform after reports emerged that Iranian users accessed more than 1,500 Binance accounts and that about $1.7 billion flowed to Iran-linked entities and networks.
According to the lawmaker:
“The scale of the newly-revealed illicit transfers — uncaught until nearly two billion dollars flowed to sanctioned entities — and the unexplained firing of internal investigators call into question Binance’s compliance with American sanctions and banking laws, and its 2023 agreement to resolve the previous federal investigation”
The lawmaker framed the allegations as a test of whether Binance’s compliance controls have weakened since its record 2023 settlement with US authorities.
Under that settlement, Binance paid about $4.3 billion in fines and overhauled its compliance measures after prosecutors said it failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. Changpeng Zhao pleaded guilty, resigned as chief executive, and later served a prison term.
In response to these allegations, Binance has vehemently denied the claims while stating that it has recorded a 97% drop in exposure to illicit transactions over the past two years.
At the same time, the firm stated that it has helped law enforcement seize more than $752 million in illicit funds over the same period.
Meanwhile, the firm has also touted recent court victories in civil litigation tied to terror-financing allegations as further evidence of its compliance efforts.
On March 12, Binance stated that an Anti-Terrorism Act case in Alabama was dismissed and that a separate ATA case in New York was also dismissed.
Although those claims are distinct from the current sanctions-related scrutiny, Binance stated that these outcomes demonstrate its commitment to transparency, security, and lawful conduct in everything it does.
According to the firm:
“[The] courts reviewing these claims have found them wanting on both the facts and the law, and they reinforce that allegations involving sanctions compliance and terrorism financing are serious matters that must be backed by evidence rather than rhetoric and speculation.”
