President-elect Donald Trump has made it clear that his term will favor cryptocurrency. To prove the point, Trump launched his own $TRUMP meme coin over the weekend before his inauguration. The move has sparked a heated debate about whether it’s ethical—or even legal—for a president to use his office to grow personal wealth.
Trump is already a meme(coin). Announced through his social media platform Trust and X, $TRUMP—a meme coin hosted on the Solana blockchain—was revealed Friday night.
In less than 24 hours, its value soared past $25 billion, with the price per token rising to $72 from $10 at launch. As of today, Axios reports its valuation has doubled to about $58 billion.
Its entry into the crypto market triggered massive sell-offs in other cryptocurrencies, as investors shifted funds to $TRUMP. The token peaked on Saturday, Jan. 18, with a 600% appreciation.
A family affair. Data from the $TRUMP website shows that over 89% of its tokens are controlled by companies tied to the Trump family, leaving only 10% available to the public.
Forbes reported that CIC Digital LLC, a subsidiary of Trump’s corporate network, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, a company incorporated in Delaware just seven days ago, own the tokens. Both entities stand to earn undisclosed income from trading activity, positioning them as primary beneficiaries of this crypto “boom.”
And then came $MELANIA. Trump’s wife also joined the meme coin craze. Following $TRUMP’s success, First Lady Melania Trump launched $MELANIA on Sunday.
The trend repeated itself, with investors withdrawing funds from other cryptocurrencies to buy $MELANIA. This caused $TRUMP’s value to drop sharply before stabilizing. Within 24 hours, $MELANIA’s market value hit about $13 billion. CIC Digital LLC, which manages $TRUMP, is also behind $MELANIA.
Ethics under fire. Ethics experts have voiced concerns about the timing of $TRUMP’s launch, just before the inauguration. Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, said the move amounts to “literally cashing in on the presidency—creating a financial instrument so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office,” Noti told The New York Times. “It is beyond unprecedented,” he added.
Even some of Trump’s supporters in the crypto community criticized the move. Nic Carter, founding partner at Castle Island Ventures, said the launch “reaches new depths of idiocy.” Nick Tomaino, a former Coinbase executive, called it “predatory” on X, adding, “Trump owning 80% and timing launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it.”
Norman Eisen, a former White House ethics adviser under President Barack Obama, told The Washington Post the launch represents a significant conflict of interest. “He’s launching a major, new multibillion-dollar venture in the burgeoning crypto industry, where he has the most profound conflict of interest between (what) he’s seeking to gain and his duties to regulate that industry—which now includes himself. This may represent the single worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency,” Eisen said.
Legal questions linger. The U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibits government officials from accepting gifts or benefits without Congress’s consent. As Axios noted, Trump’s launch of $TRUMP raises questions, as he isn’t technically president until his inauguration. “When I was in government I couldn’t accept a lunch over $20. Now anyone can give our next President millions,” Wa’el Alzayat, a Middle East policy expert, said.
Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, told Politico, “After decades of seeing presidents-elect spend the time leading up to inauguration separating themselves from their finances to show that they don’t have any conflicts of interest, we now have a president-elect who, the weekend before inauguration, is launching new businesses along with promises to deregulate… those sectors in a way to just blatantly profit off his own presidency.”
Tailored regulation on the horizon. Trump has also announced plans to deregulate the cryptocurrency market. He has tapped Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency advocate, to replace Gary Gensler as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The move raises concerns about conflicts of interest, particularly with President-elect Trump’s sons, Erik and Donald Jr., leading recent business ventures in the sector. The suspicion that Trump could oversee regulations while directly benefiting from them has fueled criticism, despite the cryptocurrency site’s claims of neutrality.
Image | Gage Skidmore
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