Trump Officially Inaugurated After Declaring Himself the "Cryptocurrency President"
First Lady Melania Launches Coin Named After Herself Ahead of Inauguration
Critics Say, "A Few Clicks Can Deposit Money to the President"
Following U.S. President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump also launched a meme coin (a trendy cryptocurrency). On the 19th (local time), the Associated Press reported, "The Trump family's personal business ventures could lead to conflicts of interest."
On the same day, Melania announced the issuance of a meme coin named after herself through her X (formerly Twitter) account. The Trump meme coin, which began trading on the 17th, saw its price rise to a high of $75 per coin (about 110,000 KRW), with its market capitalization reaching $14 billion (about 20 trillion KRW) at one point. The 'Melania Coin' also surged by as much as 24,000%, pushing its market cap to $8.5 billion (about 12 trillion KRW).
The 'Trump Coin' features an image of President Trump shouting "Fight" after being shot at during a campaign rally as a presidential candidate in July last year. ‘CIC Digital,’ an affiliate of a company owned by President Trump, and ‘Fight, Fight, Fight,’ a company established on the 7th, plan to sell the Trump meme coin throughout the upcoming four-year term.
The 'Trump Coin' was issued at a scale of $200 million (about 290 billion KRW) on its first day of trading and will be issued up to a total of $1 billion (about 1.45 trillion KRW) over the next three years. Only 20% is publicly available, with the remaining 80% owned by two affiliated companies.
Some express concerns that the Trump couple’s meme coins could be used by external forces to exert influence. The Associated Press pointed out, "The Trump meme coin could be exploited by special interest groups and foreign governments seeking to influence the United States." Anthony Scaramucci, former White House communications director during Trump’s first administration, told the news agency, “Now anyone in the world can deposit money into the U.S. president’s bank account with just a few clicks.”
Having proclaimed himself the "cryptocurrency president," President Trump’s official inauguration on this day also caused the price of Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, to soar. According to the cryptocurrency platform Binance, Bitcoin’s price reached as high as $109,588 (about 158.78 million KRW), nearing the $110,000 mark.
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