“It is literally cashing in on the presidency – creating a financial instrument, so people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office” said Mr Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Centre, a non-profit ethics group. “It is beyond unprecedented.”
Mr Eric Trump, who helps run Trump Organization business operations, said on Jan 18 that this offering was part of a new and growing business sector that the Trump family has entered. NYTIMES
WASHINGTON – President-elect Donald Trump and his family on Jan 17 started selling a cryptocurrency token featuring an image of Trump drawn from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that ethics experts assailed as a blatant effort to cash in on the office he is about to occupy again.
Trump announced the launch of his new business on Jan 17 night on his social media platform, in between announcements about filling key federal government posts. He is calling the token $Trump, selling it with the slogan:
The venture was organized by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, which already has been selling an array of other kinds of merchandise such as Trump-branded sneakers, fragrances and even digital trading cards.
But this newest venture brings Trump and his family directly into the world of selling cryptocurrency, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Trump recently disclosed he intended to name a cryptocurrency advocate as SEC chair.
A disclosure on the website selling the tokens says that CIC Digital and its affiliates own 80% of the supply of the new Trump tokens that will be released gradually over the coming three years and that they will be paid “trading revenue” as the tokens are sold.
Trump launches crypto meme coin, ballooning net worth ahead of inauguration
A president-elect launching a new business product is a highly unusual move, and it is a major concern for ethics watchdogs.
His financial ties to crypto come as he is vowing to enact an array of policies that would benefit the industry, including overhauling how digital assets are regulated and having the government stockpile bitcoin.
The new memecoin’s fully diluted value — the market capitalization of the coin if all tokens were in circulation — was more than $27 billion as of 2:30 p.m. Saturday, according to CoinGecko data, with the price of the token at just above $27. At that price, Trump’s company controlled more than $20 billion worth of the asset.
Leading figures in the digital asset industry were gathered at a sold-out unofficial inaugural ball put on by crypto firms when Trump began promoting the coin Friday night. Trump’s incoming crypto and AI czar, venture capitalist David Sacks, told attendees at the event that “the reign of terror against crypto is over, and the beginning of innovation in America for crypto has just begun,” according to a video of his remarks posted on X.
Crypto firms have also shelled out at least $10 million to Trump’s inaugural fund, and some top executives are expected to attend his swearing-in on Monday.
A president-elect launching a new business product is a highly unusual move, and it is a major concern for ethics watchdogs, who say Trump stands to profit from policy changes he is poised to usher in.
“It is absolutely wild,” said Jordan Libowitz, vice president for communications at the nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “After decades of seeing presidents-elect spend the time leading up to inauguration separating themselves from their finances to show that they don’t have any conflicts of interest, we now have a president-elect who, the weekend before inauguration, is launching new businesses along with promises to deregulate … those sectors in a way to just blatantly profit off his own presidency.”
Some Trump critics in the crypto sector also worry that the product is a bad look. Anthony Scaramucci, a crypto evangelist who briefly served as Trump’s communications director in his first term before turning into a fierce critic, wrote on X Saturday that it “is bad for the industry.”
“Don’t delude yourself. It’s Idi Amin level corruption,” he wrote, referring to the former Ugandan dictator.
Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
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