The incoming first couple, Donald and Melania Trump, have launched a pair of meme coins, $TRUMP and $MELANIA, in the leadup to President-elect Trump’s inauguration. The coins are already worth billions of dollars on paper, but the timing of the launch has raised ethical concerns.
Melania Trump launched her cryptocurrency, $MELANIA, on Sunday, causing her husband’s coin, $TRUMP, to plummet in value. However, $TRUMP has since recovered some of its losses and was trading around $60 early Monday.
The coins are trading on the Solana blockchain and are a type of highly volatile cryptocurrency inspired by popular internet or cultural trends. They carry no intrinsic value but can soar or plummet in price.
The launch of the meme coins has alarmed ethics experts, who say it raises serious ethical questions about conflicts of interest. Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, said the launch of the coins just hours before inauguration raises “serious ethical questions about conflicts of interest.”
The Trump coin’s value could be influenced by his actions or policies once in office, particularly as he has said he will be more crypto-friendly, which will likely further inflate the coin’s value at least temporarily.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, some in the crypto industry have expressed concerns about the timing of the launch and the potential for conflicts of interest.
The Trump coin’s market capitalization is capped at $13 billion, and its fully diluted value stands at around $54 billion. At that value, the 80% linked to Trump is worth a staggering $43 billion, at least on paper.
The launch of the meme coins has also raised concerns about the potential for corruption and the appearance of self-dealing. Walter Shaub, the ethics watchdog who clashed with Trump during his first term, said the Trump coin is “naked profiteering” and that the very idea of government ethics is now a “smoldering crater.”
