President Trump Dismisses Reports That He Made Billions After Launching His New Cryptocurrency Token

Two days later, First Lady Melania Trump launched her cryptocurrency $MELANIA. When asked by a reporter on Tuesday if he plans to continue selling products that benefit him personally while president, Trump responded, “I don’t know if it benefited.”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday dismissed reports that he made billions after launching his new cryptocurrency token last week, as his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, also launched her own cryptocurrency called $MELANIA.

When a reporter asked Trump if he planned to continue selling products that personally benefit him during his presidency, he replied, “I don’t know if it benefited.”

“I don’t know where it is. I don’t know much about it other than I launched it,” he added. “I heard it was very successful. I haven’t checked it. Where is it today?”

After being told that he might have made billions from his meme coin, the president chuckled and said, “That’s peanuts for these guys,” referring to the tech billionaires who were present to help him announce a new artificial intelligence initiative.

Trump unveiled the token, which he dubbed “$TRUMP,” on Friday, inviting his followers to “Join my very special Trump Community.” According to CoinMarketCap, the market capitalization of the president’s coin currently stands at $8.32 billion, while Melania’s token has reached $777 million.

However, some members of the crypto industry have raised concerns about the glaring conflict of interest, as Trump now has the authority to set policies that could impact the crypto industry while also standing to benefit directly from the sale of the Trump family’s tokens.

“It is 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,” Adav Noti, executive director of a nonprofit ethics group, Campaign Legal Center, told The New York Times. “It is beyond unprecedented.”

The website for Trump’s meme coin, on the other hand, includes a disclaimer stating that the cryptocurrency “is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or governmental agency.”

“Trump Memes are intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP,'” it reads.

During his 2024 run for the White House, Trump courted crypto firms, which, according to the nonprofit watchdog Public Citizen, contributed nearly half of the $274 million in corporate money raised during this year's elections. The president, who dubbed himself "the crypto president," also vowed to make America "the crypto capital of the planet."