Donald Trump was accused of corruption as he returned to the White House days after launching a multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency coin. Former government ethics officials and presidential experts said the venture amounted to a “shameful” conflict of interest.
The president and his wife, Melania, each announced their own plays before his inauguration. Both were valued at billions of dollars when Trump was sworn in on Monday.
“There are shameful and major conflicts of interest regarding his family business benefiting from his cryptocurrency policies,” said James Thurber, founder and former director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.
Trump “doesn’t seem to care about the public interest when it comes to cryptocurrency,” Thurber added. “He appears to be motivated by profit and wanting to become a major part of the billionaire class in the United States.”
“America voted for corruption, and Trump is wasting no time making it happen,” said Walter Shaub, former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, who served under former Presidents Barack Obama and Trump. “What was once a government ethics program, part law and part standards, is a smoldering crater. » The White House has been contacted for comment.
Trump has pledged to transform the United States into the crypto capital of the world, ending the crackdown by Joe Biden officials and taking an altogether softer approach to regulating digital currencies. Major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, have risen in value since his election victory last November.
The president launched $TRUMP Friday night, introducing the meme coin to his supporters as a way to “celebrate everything we stand for: WIN!” ”, before the first lady follows with $MELANIA on Sunday.
According to its website, about 80% of the Trump Coin tokens are owned by CIC Digital, a subsidiary of Trump’s company, and another entity called Fight, Fight, Fight. The Melania piece is offered by MKT World LLC, a company incorporated by the first lady in 2021.
The president’s coin has the potential to raise significant funds for his business empire and inflate his personal fortune, according to Forbes. attached to $6.7 billion on Monday.
Meme coins – which combine two important features of the digital economy, memes and cryptocurrencies – are actually digital playing cards. They have no intrinsic value, experts say. Even the website marketing Trump’s coin states that it is “not intended to be, nor intended to be, an investment opportunity.”
Overall, the crypto market is also notoriously volatile. $TRUMP, after surging over the weekend, faded Monday during its inaugural ceremonies; $MELANIA, meanwhile, fell by a quarter. But together, their market values remained above $9 billion.
The sight of a new president inflating his personal fortune on his way back to the Oval Office, in an industry he pledged to support during his term, has sparked particular concern among former government officials.
“This could represent the worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency,” said Norman Eisen, a former ethics adviser to the Obama administration. said the Washington Post. Trump has “the deepest conflict of interest” in the crypto space, he added, citing the fact that the president “seeks to both win” and regulate the industry.
Preston Byrne, a cryptocurrency lawyer, puts the chance of a civil trial over Trump’s new coin at 90% within the next 14 days, or 100% within the next 60 days. “I am absolutely certain that this will happen,” he said. wrote on his blog. “Someone will lose money, a lawyer will come up with a theory and a case.”
Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, who campaigned for Kamala Harris before last year’s presidential election, described Trump’s piece as a “gift to all of us who aren’t fans of his.”
“It’s only a matter of time before a lot of people lose money because of this,” Cuban says. wrote on Bluesky, the social network. “I’m a fan of crypto. It’s no more crypto than (infamous fraudster Bernie) Madoff was simply buying and selling stocks.
Even figures on the periphery of Trumpworld are getting in on the coin frenzy. “I need you to do me a favor right now,” the Rev. Lorenzo Sewell, senior pastor of Church 180 who delivered the blessing after Trump was sworn in, said in a video posted hours after the yesterday’s inauguration. “I need you to go buy the official Lorenzo Sewell piece.”
