Among the staunchest critics of TRUMP, the controversial and wildly popular memecoin launched by Donald Trump on the eve of his inauguration in 2025, are the same cryptocurrency enthusiasts he hoped to court.
The TRUMP coin, launched on January 17, saw a dramatic price rise, rising from $7 to an all-time high of $75 in 24 hours before settling at $38. Two days after TRUMP’s debut, MELANIA, a coin backed by First Lady Melania Trump, entered the market. Unlike its predecessor, MELANIA has struggled, starting around $7 and falling below $4 after a brief peak of $14.
While the volatile trajectories of both tokens appear to have made some millionaires overnight, they have also drawn harsh criticism from industry experts.
The potential for conflicts of interest has been a focal point of the backlash, with critics, including members of the US Congress, expressing concerns that the token could allow individuals to curry favor with the president.
Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director turned cryptocurrency advocate, expressed his fears on X (formerly Twitter): “The most dangerous aspect of the Trump coin for the nation is what comes next. Now, anyone around the world can effectively deposit money into the bank account of the President of the United States with just a few clicks. Every favor, whether geopolitical, corporate or personal, is now openly for sale.”
The decision to launch a memecoin has also sparked broader criticism within the crypto industry. While memecoins have become a prominent use case for blockchain technology, many developers argue that they reinforce a get-rich-quick perception that undermines the credibility of the sector.
Gabor Gurbacs, founder of digital asset company Pointsville, posted on X: “Trump needs to fire his crypto advisors, top to bottom.”
Nic Carter, general partner of a crypto investment firm and staunch Trump supporter, was equally scathing: “It’s absolutely absurd that he would do this,” he said. political. “They’re reaching new levels of idiocy with the launch of memecoin.”
Specific concerns have been raised about the distribution of the currency. 80% of TRUMP tokens are concentrated in a small number of blockchain addresses controlled by CNC Digital, the firm that launched the coin. Such concentration is a hallmark of potential “pump-and-dump” schemes, where insiders inflate the value of a token before selling their holdings, leaving other investors with losses.
There is no evidence that the Trump team plans to “dump” its tokens. Nicolas Vaiman, CEO of blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, told CoinDesk that the distribution of TRUMP tokens at least matched what was described on its official website. Additionally, the internal tokens align with previous distributions of Trump’s NFT trading cards, which were also managed by CNC Digital, meaning the tokens can be reserved for the president’s NFT holders.
However, the same transparency does not apply to MELANIA. According to Bubblemaps, around 89% of MELANIA tokens are controlled by insiders. The supply chain does not match the official distribution breakdown on the token’s website, which allocated 35% of the tokens to “public distribution” and “community.”
Vaiman said the First Lady’s memecoin has overshadowed the original TRUMP coin: “TRUMP could have been a statement from President Trump saying, ‘I support cryptocurrencies,'” Vaiman said. “Melania, launching her tokens, feels like they just want to make as much money as they can from this and then forget about it. “It gives this a different flavor.”
This is not the first time that the crypto community has questioned Trump’s forays into the industry. In August, Trump and his sons launched World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a platform that promised to develop a credit product. The project generated backlash for pre-selling tokens before delivering any tangible value, with critics quick to point out the involvement of a former dating coach and memecoin promoter on the WLFI team, as well as the allocation of a percentage of pre-sale proceeds directly to a company controlled by Trump.
The potential for conflict of interest also became immediately apparent. Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun recently became WLFI’s largest investor, making a $30 million purchase of the project’s tokens. In an X post on Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. announced that World Liberty Financial would acquire some of Tron’s TRX tokens for its treasury.
In my opinion, if I have made money in cryptocurrency, all credit goes to President Trump. @realDonaldTrump. Both Trump Coin and World Liberty Financial are sure to perform exceptionally well.
— SE Justin Sun 🍌 (@justinsuntron) January 22, 2025
Sun, a Hong Kong-based crypto billionaire, was previously charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a department now under the control of the Trump White House.
