Melania Trump launched her own cryptocurrency on Sunday on the eve of her husband’s presidential inauguration, just a day after his own coin was launched — moves that are raising ethical concerns among crypto industry observers.
“The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now,” the incoming first lady wrote on X.
Donald Trump had launched his own meme coin, $TRUMP, on Saturday, branded with imagery of his attempted assassination in July.
The $TRUMP coin soared to nearly $11 billion US in market value on Monday morning, according to crypto data platform CoinMarketCap, potentially inflating his net worth by billions. $MELANIA, meanwhile, had a market value of $1.7 billion a few hours before the inauguration.
Roughly 80 per cent of Trump coin’s tokens are owned by CIC Digital, an affiliate of Trump’s business, and another entity called Fight, Fight, Fight, according to its website. It says the coins are “an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’,” and are not an investment or security.
The launch of the coins caused surprise and concern even among those in the cryptocurrency industry, some of whom criticized the Trumps for again capitalizing on his presidency by launching a lucrative business product from which he and his family stand to profit.
“While it’s tempting to dismiss this as just another Trump spectacle, the launch of the official Trump token opens up a Pandora’s box of ethical and regulatory questions,” said Justin D’Anethan, an independent crypto analyst based in Hong Kong.
“Should public figures, especially those with such political clout, wield this kind of sway in speculative markets? That’s a question regulators are unlikely to ignore,” he said.
Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former White House communications director and now frequent critic, also blasted the move on X.
“Now anyone in world can essentially deposit money into bank account of President of USA with a couple clicks. Every favour — geopolitical, corporate or personal — is now on sale, right out in the open,” he wrote.
LISTEN | How Trump is fuelling a crypto boom:
Once crypto-skeptic, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, has had a change of heart over the past year. Especially, after millions of dollars from the cryptocurrency industry poured into his campaign. Now, as he embraces the online currency, even appointing a crypto czar, the price of Bitcoin and other popular tokens reach new heights. Even memecoins are seeing a boost. But what happens if the volatile crypto market sees another crash like it did in 2022? Jacob Silverman, tech journalist and host of CBC’s The Naked Emperor, joins us to talk about why there’s so much crypto hype right now and what’s at stake if the boom goes bust. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]
Trump an enthusiastic supporter of crypto
Cryptocurrencies are a type of digital money that can be used to pay for things in the online world, and meme coins — often volatile — are a type of crypto usually driven by internet jokes.
Bitcoin, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, surged after Trump’s election victory. It rallied again to a record-high ahead of his inauguration, having jumped more than 10 per cent so far this month.
The incoming president has been an enthusiastic supporter of crypto, signalling on the campaign trail that he would launch a strategic reserve of Bitcoin, and with many working in crypto hopeful that he’ll roll back regulations of the nascent industry.
Trump appointed venture capitalist David O. Sacks to be the country’s first crypto czar, and became the first presidential candidate to accept crypto as a valid form of donation to his campaign.
Bloomberg reports that Trump might use an executive order to classify cryptocurrency as a “national priority” after his inauguration on Monday. He also has strong support from the industry, with crypto companies like Ripple, Robinhood and Coinbase having donated to his inaugural fund.
But the president-elect hasn’t always been hot on the digital assets: Trump previously called Bitcoin a “scam” in 2021, lamenting that it was competing with and impacting the value of the U.S. dollar.
