The cryptocurrency, Himalaya Coin has quietly zoomed to an apparent $27 billion valuation in less than two weeks.
For starters, there’s the music video, “Hcoin to the Moon," featuring exiled Chinese billionaire Wengui Guo.
The cryptocurrency has received support from Guo and Steve Bannon, the former Donald Trump adviser, and suggests there’s more than just crypto-cheerleading at work with Himalaya Coin.
Guo and Bannon have waged a public campaign against the Chinese government for years, and comments last week from Bannon indicate this is the latest front in that battle. Himalaya Coin’s debut this month also stands out because, in September, China widened its crackdown on the use of cryptocurrencies.
Guo has touted the digital token on social media, and has a business relationship with the exchange where it trades, according to the chief executive officer of that marketplace. Bannon, during an interview last week, called Himalaya Coin’s debut “monumental" and put it in the context of his fight against China. “If you look at the institutionalization of the counteroffensive to the Chinese Communist Party, it’s pretty impressive," Bannon said.
Coin trades only on the Himalaya Exchange. It is not included in CoinMarketCap’s list of global cryptocurrencies, the de facto source for digital token valuations. At the beginning of the month Himalaya Coin started from 10 cents to about $27 now.
Himalaya Exchange CEO Jesse Brown says one billion of the coins have been issued. That equates to a market value of about $27 billion, similar to what CoinMarketCap says Shiba Inu, a dog-themed coin that’s recently surged in popularity, is worth.
A agreement has been inked between Guo and Himalaya Exchange where he allows his business clients to buy products from firms linked to the billionaire using the Himalaya Dollar stablecoin, Brown said in an interview. The trading platform has amassed 20,000 accounts, more than half of which are owned by Mandarin-speaking investors, Brown said.
He also said that people in the U.S., Canada and Japan cannot use the exchange though there are plans to get U.S. access.
Guo is “using his platform to to get people to get involved in crypto and financial freedom," Brown said. “I think it speaks to his whistleblower program in China and how he’s looking to get more independence."
Guo has been an avid cheerleader for H-Coin on his YouTube channel, which has about 425,000 subscribers, and on conservative social media outlet Gettr. The price of the coin has jumped 270-fold since launching Nov. 1.
