Senator Elizabeth Warren is indicting President Donald Trump’s meme coin and pushing for the US Office of Government Ethics and financial regulators to dig into the ethical and regulatory details surrounding the $TRUMP token.
Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees US financial regulators, says the assets, including First Lady Melania Trump’s own eponymous meme coin, pose a conflict-of-interest risk for the president and highlight the most destructive and volatile corner . of the crypto sector.
“Almost overnight, President Trump and his wife’s net worth increased to $58 billion,” Warren wrote in the letter along with Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a fellow Massachusetts Democrat who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “Anyone, including leaders of hostile nations, can covertly purchase these coins, raising the specter of unfettered and untraceable foreign influence over the President of the United States, all while President Trump’s supporters are left to bear the risk of investing in $TRUMP and $MELANIA .”
Launched on the Friday before his inauguration this week, Trump’s token — for which his company keeps about 80% of the coins in circulation — rose rapidly from about $3 last week to nearly $37 on Thursday. That has opened up an opportunity for Trump to earn “extraordinary profits from his presidency,” the lawmakers noted.
The letter was sent to the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — each of which now has a new Trump pick at the helm. Warren and Auchincloss raised the point that Trump is responsible for appointing the permanent heads of these regulatory agencies that will make decisions affecting the future of his crypto-tokens.
None of the three federal agencies immediately responded to CoinDesk’s requests for comment on the letter or whether they are reviewing the tokens in any other capacity.
“$TRUMP and $MELANIA pose serious risks to President Trump’s ability to impartially govern our nation — and to investors in these coins who may be victimized by a Trump family-orchestrated cover-up,” Warren’s letter concluded.
The lawmakers join other Democrats who have similarly raised concerns about Trump issuing these assets just before taking office. Representative Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called for an investigation in a letter sent to his committee’s Republican chairman one day into Trump’s new term, also raising issues with World Liberty Financial and its ties to Tron blockchain founder Justin Sun . And Representative Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, also shared her alarm about Trump’s coin.
Read more: House Dems warn of corruption in Trump’s crypto business moves
