Donald Trump and his wife Melania have launched new meme coins, drawing criticism from crypto leaders who had hoped the incoming Republican administration in the United States would take the sector more seriously.
The president-elect unveiled the Trump Token on Friday, while his wife, Melania, launched her own Melania Token on Sunday. The Trump Token’s market cap at one point topped $15 billion, but briefly dipped below $8 billion as attention turned to Melania’s token.
The meme coin sector, which includes satirical tokens like Dogecoin that have little intrinsic value and high volatility, is a controversial sector, facing criticism that it is not serious and poses too much risk for traditional investors. Meme coins rely on social media-generated momentum, which can quickly fade.
While Trump’s latest venture into crypto has fueled speculation, with bitcoin soaring to a new record high on Monday just hours before his inauguration, some executives have suggested the move could do more harm than good to an industry trying to rebuild its reputation. It has quickly added billions of dollars, at least on paper, to Trump-linked entities, at a time when the president-elect is said to be considering an executive order declaring digital assets a national priority.
“The launch of these currencies now represents a stigma that we as developers in this space will have to work to remove,” said Rob Hadik, general partner at Dragonfly Capital, a cryptocurrency investment firm.