On inauguration weekend, Trump and Melania launched the $TRUMP and $MELANIA tokens, which are being described as worthless meme coins. Despite having no real innovation, they briefly gained significant market value before crashing, netting the Trump family potentially over $100 million in trading fees. This raises ethical questions about celebrity involvement in speculative cryptocurrency markets.
The inauguration weekend saw a surprising turn in the crypto world as President Trump and First Lady Melania launched two new tokens: $TRUMP and $MELANIA. These cryptocurrencies, often labelled as meme coins or the less favourable term “shitcoins,” appeared to lack any real substance other than their connection to the first family. Shockingly, these tokens saw their value skyrocket temporarily, even claiming billions in market capitalisation before crashing dramatically.
Reports indicate that the Trump family’s ventures into crypto trading may have netted them upwards of $100 million in trading fees alone. This raises eyebrows about the ethics of profiting from such speculative assets, especially in a rapidly changing market that often sees volatility heightened by celebrity endorsements.
Critics underscore that Trump’s foray into cryptocurrency offers nothing revolutionary—from a technical or financial perspective, it’s just a branding exercise. By attaching his name to various crypto assets and claiming majority stakes in the associated companies, Trump has essentially capitalised on hype rather than contributing any meaningful innovation to the industry. The implications of this strategy could have long-lasting effects on how cryptocurrencies are viewed in the financial landscape as a whole.
