Name: Trump’s New Meme Coins Mint Billions, but Fuel Crypto Backlash
Uploaded: 2025-02-17T05:01:00Z
Duration: 7 min 40 s
Description: President Trump has a long history of cashing in on his personal brand, but to many in the crypto world, his meme coin venture might be his most naked and predatory money grab yet.

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President Trump has a long history of cashing in on his personal brand, but to many in the crypto world, his meme coin venture might be his most naked and predatory money grab yet. Photo Illustration: Alexander Hotz

https://m.wsj.net/video/20250213/078976b7-e7e2-4b6b-8f29-7ff934cc1030/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

President Trump has a long history of cashing in on his personal brand, but to many in the crypto world, his meme coin venture might be his most naked and predatory money grab yet.

Trump’s New Meme Coins Mint Billions, but Fuel Crypto Backlash

Narrator: The Trump family's latest ventures, two new cryptocurrency meme coins are a historic first for a sitting president, and they're arguably the most controversial investments ever made by a commander in chief.

I mean, this is just so-

This is bribery, writ large.

It's historic in its grift.

Narrator: Here's why Trump's meme coins are so unprecedented, and why they're so controversial to the crypto industry.

If you like your steak, you'll absolutely love Trump Steaks.

Narrator: Donald Trump has a long history of cashing in on his brand. Today, you can buy collectible Trump Trading Cards, autographed Trump guitars, Trump 1 Sneakers, and even Trump-endorsed Bibles.

I encourage you to get this God blessed USA Bible.

Narrator: Now, Trump has his eye on the crypto market, but he hasn't always been a fan. He once called Bitcoin a scam.

Do you have a dabble in Bitcoin or cryptos?

Trump: I don't. I like the currency of the United States. You know, I think the others are potentially a disaster waiting to happen.

Narrator: But by last summer, Trump had a change of heart, promising to make the US the Crypto Capital of the planet.

Bitcoin and crypto will skyrocket like never before.

Under the Biden administration, the SEC sued some of the largest crypto companies and exchanges, such as Coinbase Global and Binance. A lot of crypto companies felt like they were singled out, because of the failure of FTX. They felt like they couldn't do business in the United States. However, President Trump on the campaign trail promised that he would create more regulatory-friendly environment.

Narrator: Like many in the industry, Rob Hadick, a General Partner at the crypto-focused investment firm, Dragonfly, was optimistic about Trump's crypto policies.

Before the coins were launched, people around Donald Trump had talked on the campaign trail about doing a lot of really awesome things to just encourage innovation here in the US, and allow for an easier path for just participation in the industry.

Narrator: Many of the promises Trump made on the campaign trail have already materialized. Trump has signed an executive order to create a national digital asset stockpile. The President also pardoned Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, who was serving a life sentence for creating the underground online marketplace that used cryptocurrencies for transactions.

The openness to crypto from this administration to the last one is so different that it is actually impossible for me to quantify. There was no openness for the last two years of the Biden administration, there was no engagement, there was only hostility. Now there is the exact opposite of that.

Narrator: Trump announced the launch of his meme coin the same day his supporters hosted a Crypto Ball event for his inauguration.

The reign of terror against crypto is over!

Vicky: The $TRUMP coin launched at basically zero, and in just a few hours, it achieved a market value as high as 15 billion.

The $Melania coin also skyrocketed hours after it launched achieving a market value as high as $2 billion.

Vicky: In the days since they peaked in value, these coins have really declined sharply.

Narrator: As of February 11th, the $TRUMP token was trading at $15.56, which represents a market cap of over $3 billion. By contrast, the $Melania coin was trading at $1.42, which represents a market cap of about $212 million.

It is really hard to understate how significant the Trump and Melania meme coin are. A lot of people's first reaction was like, "Oh, this, like, actually can't be real."

Narrator: Disbelief within the crypto community soon gave way to concern that the Trump family's meme coins could hurt the industry.

I was worried that this token would trade up, and then trade down, and there would be a loss of money, and that would turn people off. I was worried about how this might make crypto more partisan, not less, in a time where I'm trying to make it less partisan.

Narrator: GetTrumpMemes.com, the website associated with the $TRUMP token, said it isn't political and has nothing to do with any political campaign, or any political office, or governmental agency. Another major point of controversy, 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is owned by FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT and CIC digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization.

We don't quite know exactly what that ownership looks like, but, theoretically, you know, people in and around the administration, or the companies that Trump owns, I'm worried about how they might decide to monetize or sell those tokens in the future.

Narrator: In response to a request for comment, Eric Trump, the Executive Vice President of the Trump Organization, wrote, "The $Trump meme coin is currently the hottest digital meme on earth, and I truly believe that World Liberty Financial will revolutionize DeFi/CeFi and will be the future of finance. We are just getting started."

For a lot of crypto executives and investors, they have really been trying to rebuild their image and kind of created this image that crypto is a serious industry and a serious technology. However, the launch of these meme coins kind of speaks to the opposite of that. It's sort of saying that maybe the crypto industry is about speculative investments and risky bets.

Narrator: Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is based largely on the popularity of internet memes.

It serves no economic purpose, it has no business model.

Narrator: Popular meme coins include Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, among others.

These meme coins are in a regulatory gray area. They are not necessarily being regulated in any jurisdictions, however, they may have broken some securities laws, commodities laws, or other financial regulations.

Narrator: One of the primary criticisms of meme coins is their susceptibility to pump-and-dump scams. In a pump-and-dump scheme, a coin of no inherent economic value is hyped up online. That hype artificially pumps or inflates the value of the token, which in turn attracts more buyers. The dump takes place when large holders sell their tokens, which triggers a crash in the price. The sudden drop in price often leaves investors with worthless tokens, an act that is known in crypto parlance as a Rug Pull.

If I was advising the President and the administration, I would've advised them not to launch the meme coin. It's my belief that two things should not be true. One is that, you know, you shouldn't be able to profit off the Office at least the time while you're in the Office. The other thing I am worried about, of course, is the appearance of, or the ability for someone foreign, to think that they can potentially have some sort of influence over, whether it's President Trump himself, or, you know, people that are close to him.

Narrator: Despite the industry's misgivings, the meme tokens have already brought new individual investors to the crypto world. Most holders of the meme tokens are small individual investors who have less than a hundred dollars worth of coins in their wallets. As of the week of February 3rd, the crypto forensic firm, Chainalysis, said that more than 810,000 wallets that held the $TRUMP token had lost money. ♪ Glory, glory ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪