Trump Couple Meme Coin Faces Criticism, Multiple Crypto Executives Warn: Could Damage Industry Reputation
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Trump Couple Meme Coin Faces Criticism, Multiple Crypto Executives Warn: Could Damage Industry Reputation
After Trump was sworn in, the market value of TRUMP coin dropped to around $9 billion, down more than 40% from its peak, while Melania's meme coin fell nearly 60%.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy Fang Jiayao, Wall Street Insights
While the Trumps have reaped massive profits from launching meme coins, criticism within the cryptocurrency industry continues to mount.
Many executives in the crypto space have expressed strong discontent. They believe these meme coins could severely damage the overall reputation of cryptocurrencies, bringing negative consequences for both Donald Trump and the broader crypto industry. Many had hoped that the new Republican administration would seriously advance the digital asset sector—only to be disappointed by the sudden emergence of these two new meme coins.
The meme coin sector is filled with joke tokens like Dogecoin, which possess little intrinsic value and are extremely volatile. Their price movements heavily depend on social media influence, allowing them to surge rapidly but also collapse just as quickly. The existence of such meme coins further fuels external criticism that the emerging cryptocurrency industry is frivolous and excessively risky.
Data from CoinMarketCap shows that the market cap of the TRUMP token一度 reached $15 billion, but briefly dropped below $8 billion following the launch of Melania’s meme coin. At the time of writing, the TRUMP token's market cap hovers around $9 billion, representing a decline of over 40% from its peak. Melania’s meme coin has fallen nearly 60% from its high of $13.73.
In addition, at 1:00 AM Beijing time on January 21, Xinhua News Agency reported that Trump had just been sworn in as U.S. President. Bitcoin futures plunged below $102,000, turning negative for the day and erasing all earlier gains. Earlier, at 14:37 Beijing time on January 20, bitcoin futures had risen above $109,000, setting a new record high.
What Do Industry Insiders Say?
Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly Capital, a crypto-focused venture firm, said:
“The meme tokens issued by the Trumps are clearly a stain, and we as industry builders will have to work hard to overcome it.”
Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and angel investor, posted on social media platform X:
“Meme tokens are zero-sum ‘lotteries’ whose prices will eventually crash, leaving the last buyers with total losses.”
Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital LLC, pointed out on social media that the launch of Melania Coin caused the price of Trump Coin to fall. Scaramucci served briefly as White House Communications Director in the Trump administration in 2017 before being dismissed and becoming a vocal critic of Trump.
Gabor Gurbacs, former Digital Asset Strategy Director at investment provider VanEck and founder of PointsVille, said these meme coins “have cost America, the presidency, and his family a great deal of credibility.” Gurbacs warned that the fallout from these projects “hasn’t even begun to surface” and called on Trump to fire his cryptocurrency advisors.
Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets, described the weekend’s meme coin developments as a “crazy” twist that “not even the crypto industry fully anticipated.” She added:
“I think people were expecting a more traditional policy approach—and that may still come.”
Notably, Trump was once skeptical of cryptocurrencies, but his stance shifted as the industry poured significant funding into his campaign ahead of the U.S. election. He now plans to position the United States as the global hub for the digital asset industry and supports the idea of establishing a national Bitcoin reserve. Reports suggest the Trump administration is considering issuing an executive order designating digital assets as a “national priority.”
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