In a new letter, Democratic lawmakers are calling on federal regulators to look into legal and ethical questions around meme cryptocurrency coins launched by President Donald Trump and the first lady.
The letter officially raises concerns about the risk of foreign countries attempting to curry influence by purchasing the coins – and the ethics of Trump making “extraordinary profits from his presidency.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and an advocate for crypto regulation, co-wrote the letter with Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., who serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce .
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters after signing a series of executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, January 23, 2025, in Washington.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Warren and Auchincloss point to the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states “(n) a person occupying any office of profit or trust under (the United States), without the consent of Congress, accepts any present, emolument, office or title, of whatever nature, of any king, prince or foreign state.”
“Anyone, including leaders of hostile nations, can covertly access these pieces, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence over the President of the United States, while supporters of President Trump are left to assume the risk to invest in $Trump and $Melania,” Warren and Auchincloss wrote to the Office of Government Ethics, the Treasury Department, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The coins also pose a conflict of interest, they write, because members of Trump’s family stand to profit directly from an industry he is accused of regulating. The president appoints chairmen of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and Securities and Exchange Commission, directors of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and secretary of the Treasury.
“This creates an unavoidable conflict of interest, as he will be able to directly benefit from the sale of the tokens while setting policy on how these markets are regulated. He will be able to seek commitments from CEOs. agency, not only to decide how the market is valued, but also to implement lax policies to crack down on crypto scams like pump and flood schemes that are regularly carried out through coins,” the agency said. letter.
ABC News has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump launched the $Trump currency on Friday night, just days before he took office. According to Coingecko, its estimated value is now $7 billion. The Melania$ coin is worth around $400 million. A large portion of the profits from these coins go to Trump and his companies, according to financial disclosures. (If Trump deactivates his interests in these companies as he did with most of his assets during his first term, his family could still benefit.)
MEME coins are a type of highly volatile cryptocurrency that allow people to bet on a popular personality or trend.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order seeking to support the expansion of cryptocurrencies.
