Two days after Donald Trump launched a memecoin that soared to $6.5 billion overnight, Melania Trump announced her own memecoin, adding to concerns the pro-crypto president is crossing ethical boundaries in an industry his administration will regulate.
On Sunday, the incoming First Lady posted on X that investors "can buy $MELANIA now." Her husband reposted it on his Truth Social platform.
A disclaimer on the memecoin’s official website says the coins “are digital collectibles intended to function as an expression of support for and engagement with the values embodied by the symbol MELANIA. and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”
On Friday, Trump announced his memecoin. It includes an image of him raising his fist in the air and the words “fight, fight, fight” — a reference to what he said after an assassination attempt last July. The token is marketed as “a piece of history,” with Trump described as "the crypto president."
“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE!” Trump wrote on X. “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to http://gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!”
Trump's coin fell to $40 after Melania announced hers, CNN reported. It has since recovered somewhat and was trading around $60 early Monday, per CNN. $MELANIA was trading just over $12 early Monday, according to CoinGecko.
CIC Digital and its affiliates own 80% of the supply of the new Trump tokens, which will be released gradually over three years, according to a disclosure on the tokens' website, The New York Times reports. “Trading revenue” will be paid as the tokens are sold, the website says.
Some in the crypto industry were critical, per The Times. “Trump owning 80 percent and timing launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it,” Nick Tomaino, a crypto venture capitalist and former executive at Coinbase, posted on social media.
Memecoins are a highly volatile cryptocurrency inspired by popular internet or cultural trends and carrying no intristic value, CNN reports.
Dogecoin, a memecoin with a dog mascot, briefly surged last November after Trump announced a nongovernmental advisory group nicknamed DOGE. Trump named Elon Musk, a dogecoin fan, as co-chair of the group.
Trump was a crypto skeptic in his first administration. "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air," he posted on X. "Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity."
He embraced the industry while campaigning last year, pledging to turn the U.S. into the crypto capital of the world and selling a series of NFTs.
Crypto donors poured tens of millions of dollars into electing Trump and other candidates. Trump has tapped Paul Atkins, a former Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner and crypto advocate, to lead the agency. Bitcoin surged above $100,000 for the first time following the announcement.
Last fall, Trump and his sons launched crypto trading platform World Liberty Financial with Steve Witkoff, a co-chair of his inaugural committee who has been named Middle East envoy. The Trumps are not owners or employees of the business, but promote it and can receive revenues from it.
In mid-November, the Financial Times reported another potential crypto deal. Trump Media — the parent company of Trump's social media platform, Truth Social — was in talks to buy Bakkt, a crypto trading firm previously led by Kelly Loeffler, another co-chair of his inauguration committee.
Last week, Bloomberg reported Trump plans to issue an executive order making cryptocurrency a national priority, guiding government agencies to work with the industry and possibly pausing crypto-related litigation. Trump also plans a crypto advisory council to advocate for the industry's policies, per Bloomberg, and has suggested creating a national bitcoin stockpile.
“I believe it is very dangerous to have the people who are supposed to oversee regulating financial instruments investing in them at the same time,” Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota and ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, told CNN. “There’s no precedent for a head of state to launch a personal cryptocurrency.”
Painter told CNN the launch of the memecoins hours before Trump's inauguration raises “serious ethical questions about conflicts of interest.”
“The coin’s value could be influenced by his actions or policies once in office, particularly as Trump has said he will be more crypto-friendly, which will likely further inflate the coin’s value at least temporarily,” Painter told CNN.
Presidents are not subject to conflict of interest criminal statutes that prevent executive branch staffers from participating in matters that impact their own financial interests, CNN reports.
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