As meme coins named after United States President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump gain popularity, criticism of President Trump's family is intensifying in the U.S. Corporations directly managed by the Trumps have issued meme coins, raising concerns that the couple is excessively pursuing profit. Experts have evaluated the current meme coin controversy as a product of regulatory gaps regarding the issuance and ownership of virtual assets in the U.S.
On the 17th, U.S. President Trump announced the issuance of the meme coin "Official Trump" through social media platforms such as Truth Social. Meme coins refer to virtual assets created for fun without a distinct purpose. Rather than being created as a means of storing value or for payment, they are often issued for amusement among virtual asset users and tend to experience high price volatility.
The Trump coin immediately became embroiled in ethical controversy upon its issuance. According to the Trump coin website, 80% of the total issuance is held by entities affiliated with the Trump Group. While President Trump's two sons currently manage the group, President Trump still owns equity in the group. He has stated that he will not dispose of the group's ownership after his inauguration.
Concerns have been raised that if the price of Trump coin rises, President Trump and his family could profit. Following its initial issuance, the Trump coin was trading at $0.41 and is currently trading at $35.24 (about 50,000 won) as of 1 p.m. on the 21st Korean time. Its market capitalization has reached $7 billion (about 10 trillion won).
Kendrick Payne, vice chair of the Election Law Center, a U.S. election monitoring organization, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, "During President Trump's first term, the biggest conflict of interest issue was Trump Hotel, and now the issue has extended to Trump coin."
Melania Trump also created a meme coin named after herself. On the 19th, she launched the "Melania Meme" and promoted it on X (formerly Twitter). The company managing the Melania meme is MKT World, and the Florida State Governments website lists Melania Trump as the administrator.
The price of the Melania meme soared close to $13 (about 18,000 won) the day before, but it is currently trading at $3.80 (about 5,400 won), which is one-third of the previous day's level.
As the prices of the Trump couple's meme coins fluctuate wildly, criticism is also pouring in from the global virtual asset industry. The industry views the two meme coins as distorting the supply and demand of virtual assets and exacerbating market chaos.
Henrik Jeberg, chief economist at Swiss Block, a virtual asset management firm, warned, "Looking at Trump coin, its value is zero, yet its price is soaring thousands of times. This is a bubble and will collapse terribly."
Experts have pointed to regulatory gaps as the background of this controversy. There are currently no laws in the U.S. defining the nature of virtual assets, and related regulations are inadequate. There are no explicit provisions mandating that public officials place their virtual assets in blind trusts or prohibiting the issuance and promotion of specific virtual assets.
Due to the lack of grounds for sanctions, there have been no definitive statements labeling the issuance of Trump coin as unlawful in the U.S. Senior Research Fellow Kim Gap-rae at the Capital Market Research Institute noted, "While moral criticism is possible, unless there is evidence of price manipulation or unjust gains by the Trump Group, there is no way to impose legal sanctions."