The meme coins of the president-elect and his wife undermine the credibility of the US market, executives have said.
Cryptocurrency industry figures have rebuked President-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania after the couple launched their own highly volatile meme coins over the weekend, Bloomberg reported on Monday. Executives fear the new offerings could undermine global confidence in the digital asset sector.
On Friday, just days before his inauguration, Trump launched his $TRUMP coin. The token skyrocketed from $10 to $72 within hours before dropping to $64. Two days later, Melania Trump introduced another meme coin called $MELANIA that quickly gained market value. However, $MELANIA’s rally caused $TRUMP to drop, with prices falling from over $75 to $40.
The market frenzy caught the attention of many veteran crypto investors. “Launches are now clearly a plague that we will have to work to leave behind as builders,” Rob Hadick, general partner at venture firm Dragonfly Capital, told Bloomberg.
“Memecoins cost the United States, the presidency and his family a lot of credibility” said Gabor Gurbacs, head of digital asset strategy at investment provider VanEck, while urging Trump to “Fire your crypto advisors, top to bottom, and replace them with people who know what they are doing.”
Meme coins like $TRUMP, $MELANIA, and DOGE are known for their extreme price volatility and lack of intrinsic value, making them risky investments. Unlike stablecoins, which are pegged to assets like the US dollar, meme coins often rely on social media advertising.
While Trump once called cryptocurrencies a “scam,” has apparently reversed this stance, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” last year. While the incoming president has been criticized for what many see as a frivolous approach to cryptocurrencies, no US law explicitly prohibits a sitting or incoming president from launching his own digital asset.
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