Senator Elizabeth Warren is criticizing President Donald Trump’s meme coin, pushing for the US Office of Government Ethics and financial regulatory agencies to delve into the ethical and regulatory details around the $TRUMP token.
Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee that oversees U.S. financial regulators, says the assets, including first lady Melania Trump’s eponymous meme coin, pose conflict-of-interest risks to the president and highlight the most destructive and volatile corner. of the crypto sector.
“Almost overnight, the net worth of President Trump and his wife skyrocketed to $58 billion,” Warren wrote in the letter along with Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a fellow Massachusetts Democrat who serves on the committee. of Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives. “Anyone, including leaders of hostile nations, can surreptitiously purchase these coins, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence on the President of the United States, while supporters of President Trump must take the risk of investing in $TRUMP and $MELANÍA.”
Launched on Friday ahead of his inauguration this week, Trump’s token – of which his company holds about 80% of the coins in circulation – quickly rose from about $3 last week to nearly $37 on Thursday. It has opened a possibility for Trump to reap “windfall benefits from his presidency,” the lawmakers said.
The letter was sent to the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, each of which now has a new Trump pick at the helm. Warren and Auchincloss stated that Trump is in charge of appointing the permanent heads of these regulatory agencies who will make decisions that will affect the future of their cryptographic tokens.
None of the three federal agencies immediately responded to CoinDesk’s requests for comment on the letter, or whether they are reviewing the tokens in any other way.
“$TRUMP and $MELANIA present serious risks to President Trump’s ability to impartially govern our nation, and to investors in these currencies, who may be victims of a lure scheme orchestrated by the Trump family,” Warren’s letter concludes. .
The lawmakers join other Democrats who have also expressed concern about the possibility of Trump issuing these assets just before taking office. Rep. Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called for an investigation in a letter sent to his committee’s Republican chairman a day into Trump’s new term, also raising issues with World Liberty Financial and its ties to Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun. And Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, also shared her alarm about Trump’s currency.
Read More: House Democrats Warn of Corruption in Trump’s Crypto Moves
