Senate Democrat slams Trump's 'grift' meme coins

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) slammed President Trump for his launch of a meme coin in January, suggesting it might be the "biggest White House corruption in a century."

In a video posted to social platform X on Thursday, Murphy said, "This is a pure grift," while showing graphics of an official advertisement promoting the meme coin.

"Trump launches this coin right before the inauguration. Why? Because he wants to make sure that his MAGA supporters who are like wild with enthusiasm about the inauguration would buy up a ton of the coin at the outset," Murphy said in the video.

Days before the inauguration, Trump launched his first meme coin, $TRUMP, which quickly surged in value and jumped from $10 each to about $70 in the first 48 hours. First lady Melania Trump announced another meme coin of her own, $MELANIA, one day before the inauguration.

The meme coins come amid Trump's broader embrace of the crypto industry as the White House shifts its approach following four years of hard-line policies from the Biden administration.

Murphy explained to his followers how meme coins work, including their volatility.

Meme coins are cryptocurrencies that are usually based on internet trends and start with no inherent value. Their value can surge when there is a high demand, making them a highly volatile asset.

"So if a lot of people want it, because they like Donald Trump, then the price goes up. If nobody wants it, then its price plummets," Murphy said. "And Trump's net worth, on paper, swelled to like $55, $56 billion dollars."

When the price of the coin dropped, some of those who bought the coin lost money, Murphy claimed.

"But the crash, it doesn't matter to Trump because Trump gets a transaction fee," Murphy said, pointing to reports that the meme coin made $100 million in trading fees despite the plummet in prices.

"But that's not the worst, Trump holds back 80 percent of the total coin and what he's going to do is release more when prices get high again," Murphy continued. "Because in addition to the transaction, he gets paid on that initial release of the coin.

The Connecticut Democrat argued "foreign governments and billionaire CEOs" are in the "best position" to buy large amounts of these meme coins and drive the price back up.

While the crypto industry has largely welcomed Trump's new embrace of the space, some expressed concerns in January that the coin will cast a negative light on his efforts to boost crypto.

Meme coins are often associated with jokes, and some industry observers told The Hill they are concerned it might hurt their chances of being taken more seriously in Washington after several scandals roiled the industry's status in recent years.

Some in the ethics space were concerned the meme coins could be used as a way for outside influences to try to "buy" the president's favor.

Meme coins are often traded on a decentralized exchange where people can anonymously trade assets. In turn, this makes it more difficult to monitor transactions and creates a gray area in terms of what trades regulators and the public can see.

"And even worse, we will never know if the buyer is a Russian oligarch or a Saudi prince or an oil company CEO because it's all secret," Murphy said.

The lawmaker pointed to reports that some of the early traders of the coin who made fast profits were based in China.

Trump himself shrugged off concerns raised by his meme coin in January.

At one point, a reporter asked the president, "You made a lot of money ... several billion dollars it seems like in the last several days," to which Trump said several billion is "peanuts" for the people he spent the past few days with.

The White House did not immediately respond to The Hill's request for comment on Thursday.

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