US president Donald Trump’s “meme coin” $TRUMP fell about 8% in 5 minutes in late September 2025, wiping tens of millions off its worth. Customers can purchase and promote this cryptocurrency, impressed by an web meme, on the open market.
Shortly earlier than retaking workplace, Trump had posted on X: “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to have fun every thing we stand for: WINNING!” Beneath the submit was a drawing of Trump with the phrases “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT” – an allusion to his assassination try.
Quickly after that announcement got here the creation of the $MELANIA coin, named after the primary girl, which additionally slid on the markets in late September 2025.
There are issues that these and different crypto companies the president and his household are concerned with are creating an unprecedented moral minefield – blurring the road between personal revenue and public workplace.
The non-public revenue Trump may obtain from these meme cash is unclear. The web site gettrumpmemes.com means that whereas the product is endorsed by the president, it has “nothing to do with any political marketing campaign”. The Trump Group, a holding firm for Trump’s enterprise ventures, and Battle Battle Battle LLC personal 80% of the cash, it states.
However critics equivalent to Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren fear that Trump may very well be leveraging the presidency so as to add to his household’s wealth. Norman Eisen, a former ethics adviser to President Barack Obama, has argued that Trump’s crypto dealings could also be “the one worst battle of curiosity within the fashionable historical past of the presidency”.
One inquiry by the New York Occasions into Trump’s budding crypto empire contended that it has “erased centuries-old presidential norms, eviscerating the boundary between personal enterprise and authorities coverage in a way with out precedent in fashionable American historical past”.
In response to allegations that Trump has profited off pursuits whereas within the Oval Workplace, his assistant press secretary, Anna Kelly, launched a press release saying his belongings are “in a belief managed by his kids”, and that there was not a battle of curiosity.
In Might, Democratic senator Jeff Merkeley (Oregon) launched a invoice for an finish crypto corruption act, which might ban the president and different senior officers from “issuing, endorsing or sponsoring crypto belongings”. The invoice is pending with principally Democrat assist, so it’s unlikely to cross the Republican-controlled Home and Senate.
A household affair
Trump’s forays into crypto are a household affair. His sons Don Jr, Eric and Barron based World Liberty Monetary (WLFI) in September 2024, months earlier than Trump was inaugurated a second time.
The president was initially listed as its “chief crypto advocate”, though his title on the web site has since modified to “co-founder emeritus”. The positioning states this occurred when he took workplace.
Aside from his sons, WLFI contains within the workforce listed on its web site Trump’s chief Center East envoy and negotiator, Steven Witkoff, and Witkoff’s son Zach.
In keeping with the Trumps, WLFI was based as “the beginning of a monetary revolution” destined to make crypto extra user-friendly. But critics say it represents a possibility for the president to profit financially, due to his involvement with the agency.
Extra issues have been raised when its crypto coin, the WLFI token, began buying and selling in September 2025, reaching a excessive of about 40 cents per coin – vastly increasing the Trump household’s wealth.
Eric Trump additionally just lately based American Bitcoin. In keeping with a press launch, this agency will mine and hoard the world’s most dear cryptocurrency, bitcoin, in addition to capitalise on “opportunistic bitcoin purchases”. Upon its inventory debut, estimates have been that the Trump sons’ stake in American Bitcoin totalled round US$1.5 billion (£1.12 billion).
Trump’s crypto historical past
Previously a crypto sceptic, Trump as soon as mentioned he was “not a fan” of bitcoin. But simply earlier than re-taking workplace, he declared that he wished to make the US “the crypto capital of the planet”.
An early signal of Trump’s curiosity in crypto got here when he spoke to a standing-room solely crowd at bitcoin’s annual convention in Nashville, Tennessee in July 2024, turning into the primary main presidential candidate to take action.
As America’s chief regulation enforcement officer, Trump helps set and implement crypto coverage — exactly the world the place his household’s companies now function. In keeping with one report, the Trump household’s wealth in crypto, no less than on paper, has surpassed US$5 billion – a quantity that now exceeds Trump’s huge actual property portfolio.
The emoluments clauses have been created within the US structure in 1789 to guard presidents from corrupting influences, and prohibit US leaders from accepting presents from international governments. However they’re now thought-about by some to wish updating.
This concern isn’t hypothetical. In Might 2025, Freight Applied sciences (Fr8Tech), a Nasdaq-listed agency based mostly in Mexico, introduced it could elevate as a lot as US$20 million to buy $TRUMP meme cash.
In opposition to the backdrop of the US elevating tariffs on Mexico, Fr8Tech CEO Javier Selgas mentioned the deal was each economically and politically advantageous, explaining: “We imagine that the addition of the Official Trump tokens [is] an efficient option to advocate for truthful, balanced, and free commerce between Mexico and the US.”
By buying Trump’s meme coin, a agency equivalent to Fr8Tech can each assist the Trump household’s monetary pursuits and hope to achieve beneficial therapy on commerce coverage. Extra issues have been raised when Trump hosted a black-tie dinner at his membership in Virginia for the biggest $TRUMP holders.
Trump’s crypto credentials
Trump has been essentially the most crypto-friendly president ever. In March, he signed an government order to create a nationwide bitcoin strategic reserve – a authorities stockpile of the asset he has framed as an emblem of US dominance within the digital asset house. Furthermore, Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, has presided over historic pronouncements to enhance the regulatory “guidelines of the highway” for cryptocurrencies.
The US Securities and Alternate Fee, an government department company that regulates markets, has moved to being pro-crypto below Trump, casting apart the strategy of the Joe Biden period. This has included dropping authorized fits towards high-profile crypto companies equivalent to Coinbase.
However whereas the Trump household advantages financially from its rising funding in crypto, this might but show a Pyrrhic victory. If Democrats wrest management of the Home of Representatives within the 2026 midterms, they may use it to scrutinise the president’s crypto entanglements – and spotlight issues about presidential conflicts of curiosity.
Thomas Present, Affiliate Professor and Director of the Centre on US Politics, UCL
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