Summary
Donald Trump’s meme cryptocurrency, $Trump, surged to a $14 billion market cap after launch but fell by over 50% after Melania Trump introduced her own token, $Melania, diverting investor interest.
$Trump partially recovered to $64 while $Melania reached a $13 billion valuation.
The tokens, marketed by Trump-controlled companies, sparked debate over their speculative nature, market volatility, and potential conflicts of interest.
Trump’s pro-crypto stance and promised deregulation have boosted digital currencies, though critics question the ethics of profiting from political office.
He’s going to pressure rich people to invest in his scam coin using his presidential powerers to actually keep it afloat. Right wingers have consistently railed against politicians who make money while in office. While I completely agree that making decisions that directly or indirectly affect politicians business or other investments is unethical I know the right wing echo chamber will declare this a good thing for America. I already see political commentators and others with a voice using caution out of fear of Trump retaliation. They all but call him dear leader. I won’t be surprised if Trump is the richest person in the world by the end of his term. That is, if there is an end.
And we’ll be on a path toward economic depression within two years of him being gone.
I worked in a place during the 2016 election with a lot of old-school Conservatives who hadn’t fully drunk the MAGA kool-aid yet, but did loathe Hillary with a passion. I vividly remember one of them explaining all of the meticulous research he claimed he did to go through the financial records Hillary released that prove that she was making all sorts of crooked money through speaking fees. When I pointed out that we didn’t even know where all Trump’s money came from because he didn’t release his taxes, he replied “That’s OK, I trust him”.
It will always be “rules for thee, not for me” with these folks. When the opposition looks like it is making any money at all it immediately looks suspect, but when their side does it it’s just capitalism.
He isn’t going to pressure anyone. This is a path to legal bribery. The blockchain can be used to verify which wallets bought coins and if you decide to prove to Team Trump that you have invested millions in his wealth you will have influence. This is especially important for foreign donations.
Both of these are about bribing Trump.