Senator Elizabeth Warren is speaking out against President Donald Trump’s meme coin, pushing for the U.S. Office of Government Ethics and financial regulatory agencies to dig deeper into the ethical and regulatory details around the $TRUMP token.
Warren, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee that oversees U.S. financial regulators, says assets including first lady Melania Trump’s eponymous coin pose conflict of interest risks for the president and highlight the most destructive and volatile corner. of the crypto industry.
“Almost overnight, the net worth of President Trump and his wife soared to $58 billion,” Warren wrote in the letter alongside Rep. Jake Auchincloss, a fellow Massachusetts Democrat who serves on the House committee. Energy and Commerce of the Chamber. “Anyone, including leaders of hostile nations, can secretly purchase these coins, raising the specter of unbridled and untraceable foreign influence over the President of the United States, while supporters of President Trump must bear the risk to invest in $TRUMP and $MÉLANIE.”
Launched on the Friday before his inauguration this week, Trump’s token — for which his company maintains about 80% of the coins in circulation — rose rapidly, from about $3 last week to nearly $37 on Thursday. This opens up the possibility of Trump making “extraordinary profits from his presidency,” the lawmakers noted.
The letter was sent to the Treasury Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission – each of which now has a new Trump pick at its helm. Warren and Auchincloss pointed out that Trump is responsible for appointing the permanent heads of these regulatory agencies who will make decisions affecting the future of his crypto tokens.
None of the three federal agencies immediately responded to CoinDesk’s requests for comment on the letter, or whether they were reviewing the tokens in any other capacity.
“$TRUMP and $MELANIA pose serious risks to President Trump’s ability to govern our nation impartially – and to investors in these coins, who could be victims of a rug-pulling scheme orchestrated by the Trump family” , concludes Warren’s letter.
The lawmakers join other Democrats who have also expressed concerns about Trump’s issuance of these assets just before he took office. Rep. Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called for an investigation in a letter sent to his committee’s Republican chairman a day into Trump’s new term, further raising issues with World Liberty Financial and his ties to the founder of the Tron blockchain, Justin Sun. And Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, also shared her concern about Trump’s coin.
Read more: House Democrats warn of corruption in Trump’s crypto business
