Trump and Melania Launch Meme Coins Ahead of Inauguration, Alarming Ethics Experts

The incoming first couple have launched a pair of meme coins in the leadup to president-elect Donald Trump's inauguration that are already worth billions of dollars on paper.

President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, each launched their own cryptocurrency in the final hours of the Trump presidency, a move that has alarmed ethics experts and even some in the crypto industry.

Trump announced his meme coin, $TRUMP, in a social media post Friday, promising to America the “crypto capital of the planet.” Melania launched her cryptocurrency $MELANIA in a post Sunday.

Trump’s meme coin skyrocketed over the weekend and was trading at more than $70 by Sunday afternoon, according to CoinGecko. However, the president’s coin nosedived to $40 after Melania revealed her own coin. It has since recovered some of those losses and was trading around $60 early Monday.

$MELANIA was trading just over $12 early Monday, according to CoinGecko.

$TRUMP is the first cryptocurrency endorsed by the president, who once trashed bitcoin as “based on thin air.” But Trump received strong support from the crypto industry this election after he embraced crypto and promised to make America the “crypto capital of the planet.”

In July 2024, Trump addressed crypto’s largest convention and has since appointed Howard Lutnick, who supports the cryptocurrency company Tether, to run the US Commerce Department. Lutnick is among other crypto enthusiasts appointed to Trump’s next administration.

Now, Trump will not only preside over how the federal government will regulate crypto, he can personally cash in on the outcome.

“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, told CNN. “There’s no precedent for a head of state to launch a personal cryptocurrency.”

Painter, the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush Administration, said the launch of the meme coins just hours before 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 said.

While executive branch employees must follow conflict of interest criminal statutes that prevent them from participating in matters that impact their own financial interests, the law does not apply to the president or the vice president.

The Trump coin was announced on Friday, the final business day before the resignation of Gary Gensler, the outgoing chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and an enemy of the crypto industry. Trump had vowed to replace Gensler, who announced in November he would step down at noon on Inauguration Day.

Walter Shaub, the ethics watchdog who clashed with Trump during his first term before stepping down, sounded the alarm about Trump’s second term.

“America voted for corruption, and that’s what Trump is delivering,” Shaub told CNN in an email. “Trump’s corruption and naked profiteering is so open, extreme and pervasive this time around that to comment on any one aspect of it would be to lose the forest for the trees. The very idea of government ethics is now a smoldering crater.”

California Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat, said in a post on X that elected officials “must be barred from having meme coins by law,” describing them as “highly speculative and like gambling.”

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this month, the Trump Organization announced Trump will not be involved in managing his real estate and branding empire during his first term in office and appointed an outside ethics monitor to keep an eye on company actions. Previous presidents have taken more significant steps to avoid conflicts of interest and the appearance of self-dealing, including by putting their businesses in blind trusts.

Anthony Scaramucci, a former Trump official turned critic, said in a post on X that the “most dangerous thing” about the Trump coin is that now “anyone in the world can essentially deposit money” into the bank account of the president of the United States with just a few clicks.

“Every favor – geopolitical, corporate or personal – is now on sale, right out in the open,” said Scaramucci, who is a supporter of the crypto industry.

Some others in the crypto industry were startled by the timing of the Trump move.

“Trump owning 80% and timing launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it,” Nick Tomaino, a former Coinbase executive, said in a post on X. “Trump should be airdropping to the people rather than enriching himself or his team on this.”

Crypto investor Nic Carter, who has described himself as a Trump supporter, told Politico it is “absolutely preposterous” Trump would do this.

The Trump coin’s market capitalization, which is based on the 200 million coins circulating, is capped at $13 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. The meme coin’s