Trump Meme Coin Purchasers Must Agree to Terms That Block Them From Bringing Class Action Lawsuits

President-elect Donald Trump promoted a new meme coin, called $TRUMP, on his Truth Social account on Friday.

Purchasers of the new meme coin, endorsed by Trump's social media account, must agree to terms and conditions that include a block on them bringing class action lawsuits.

Newsweek contacted representatives of Trump's transition team for comment via email, outside of regular office hours on Saturday.

Why It Matters

Class action waivers are often deployed by companies to help reduce financial risk, but opponents argue they can limit consumers' rights and prevent company accountability.

These waivers, where one side of a deal gives up some legal rights, are controversial and have triggered disputes in the U.S. Congress and Supreme Court.

What To Know

The $TRUMP meme coin, illustrated by an artistic depiction of the incoming president pumping his fist into the air after surviving an assassination bid in July 2024, is being sold via the 'Get Trump Memes' website.

The website refers to the failed Trump assassination attempt in July 2024, when he "faced death and came up fighting!" "Now, you can get your piece of history," it adds. "This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn't back down, no matter the odds. Join the Trump Community—we're all about fighting for what matters."

According to its website, 200 million $TRUMP coins were released on the day it went live, with a total of 1 billion planned during the first three years.

As of 7:45 a.m. ET on Saturday the value of each $TRUMP coin was $21.95 according to Grecko Terminal, a popular trading platform.

The meme coins come with extensive terms and conditions, which states they are "NOT INTENDED TO BE, OR TO BE THE SUBJECT OF, AN INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY, INVESTMENT CONTRACT, OR SECURITY OF ANY TYPE."

The site links to terms and conditions that state the purchaser surrenders the right to join a class-action lawsuit against CIC Digital LLC, the Trump Organization affiliate which makes the $TRUMP coins, unless they give "written notice of your decision within thirty (30) days of the date that you first access the Website."

The U.S. Supreme Court has been divided on the use of class action waivers under the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), which allows private disputes to be settled outside of the judicial system.

"In a series of sharply divided opinions, the Supreme Court has interpreted the FAA s making class action waiver provisions in arbitration agreements generally enforceable, even when a plaintiff's claims for damages might be too small to justify the expense of arbitrating on an individual basis," a Congressional Research Service report published in September 2024 stated.

Lawmakers have also considered new restraints on the waivers.

"The use of arbitration agreements to foreclose consumers, employees, and businesses from bringing class actions remains a central issue in debates over the FAA's scope and application," the CRS added. "A number of bills introduced in the 118th Congress would amend the FAA to limit or bar enforcement of arbitration agreements and class action waivers in certain contexts."

$TRUMP: Has Trump Been Hacked?

Following the Trump meme coin post some social media users speculated whether the incoming president had been hacked, but there is no indication this was the case as he proceeded to make other posts about his incoming administration and the meme coin promotion remains live.

One blockchain engineer noted the Trump meme coin website is "deployed almost identically to his previous NFT website" with the "same Cloudflare setup, same deployment with Heroku, same SSL certificate issuer" and a "very similar HTML structure."

The incoming president has sold a wide variety of products to his supporters over the past few years including his own range of 'God Bless the USA' Bibles and digital trading cards, also known as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

What People Are Saying

President-elect Donald Trump's Truth Social account posted on Friday: "My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW." This was followed by a link to the meme coin website and an instruction to "Have Fun!"

Business commentator James Camp wrote: "If $trump is real the next few years will be very easy to make money. I also think it means this man is willing to destroy markets and this is the beginning of the end."

Crypto investor Dan Gambardello said: "I understand this $TRUMP launch has unpopular tokenomics and ruined momentum for all your favorite coins, but this dip will be forgotten in a week. If Trump did in fact launch a meme coin, it's the biggest signal of the deregulation that is to come. This is incredibly bullish."

What Happens Next

Trump will be inaugurated as president of the United States on January 20, inside