Trump called the new financial product a “WIN!” One critic described it as “Idi Amin-level corruption.”Charly Triballeau/AP
Friday evening, just days before his inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump taken at to celebrate… the launch of his new meme piece. “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for,” he wrote, “WIN! » It’s a decision that, at least on paper, seemed inflate Trump’s personal wealth by billions before ushering in the most crypto-friendly administration in history.
With this launch, Trump joins the ranks of celebrities like Iggy Azalea, Caitlyn Jennerand more recently, Halie Welchbetter known as “Hawk Tuah”, all of whom launched their own meme coins last year. Wired describe these currencies as “a type of cryptocurrency that generally has no use beyond financial speculation.”
The Trump piece was recently reached a market capitalization of $5.2 billion and a fully diluted valuation of $26 billion, referring to the theoretical value if all possible coins were in circulation. Elon Musk, Trump’s new friend, is known to be a big partisan of one of the most famous coins, dogecoin, named after the same meme that inspired his new Ministry of Government Effectiveness.
“It’s literally taking advantage of the presidency.” »
Although the play’s website states that it “is not political and has nothing to do with a political campaign, political office, or government agency,” some critics say there are serious ethical concerns . “Unlike traditional Trump-branded businesses, the pseudonymous nature of cryptocurrency means anyone in the world can invest without identity checks, which could raise concerns about undue influence on a president in fiscal year,” wrote Boaz Sobrado, a fintech analyst, in Forbes. Adav Noti, the executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, noted in the New York Times that “this literally amounts to cashing in on the presidency – creating a financial instrument for people to transfer money to the president’s family while in office.”
“We now have a president-elect who, the weekend before his inauguration, launches new businesses and promises to deregulate,” said Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications for the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics. in Washington. said Policy.
The former Trump spokesperson, now a staunch critic, Anthony Scaramucci job that $TRUMP is “Idi Amin-level corruption” and “makes a mockery of the industry we work so hard to build.”
The meme piece is just the latest in a bizarre line of grotesque and super weird versions of the “merch.” Last February, Trump showed himself gold “Never Surrender High-Tops” for $399 at Sneaker Con, which had Fox News applauding his appeal to black voters. In March, it started approving the amount of $59.99 »God Bless USA Bible”, which includes the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the handwritten lyrics of the chorus of “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood. (Trump’s inaugural committee confirmed that he will not use one of these Bibles to take the presidential oath on Monday.) In AugustTrump has released a new series of his “baseball card” NFTs. “These cards show me dancing and even holding Bitcoins,” Trump explained in a video on Truth Social. Maybe next turn he’ll hold his own coins.