President Donald Trump’s goodwill in the cryptocurrency industry has taken a hit after he and his wife launched meme coins — a move critics say looks like an unseemly cash grab that undermines an effort to legitimize digital assets.
The industry, which felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration and spent heavily to help Trump win, is eager for the new president’s help to make crypto a bigger part of mainstream financial systems. Trump has promised a lighter regulatory touch and picked pro-crypto officials for key government positions.
The price of bitcoin and other digital assets has soared since Trump won. A lavish “Crypto Ball” Friday ahead of Trump’s inauguration sold tickets for thousands of dollars and featured a performance by the rapper Snoop Dogg.
But as that party was ongoing, Trump announced on social media he was offering his very own cryptocurrency in the form of a meme coin. The move dampened the mood for many in the crypto community.
“I really was kind of bummed out when I saw it,” said Tom Schmidt, a partner at a crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly. “It just felt very grifty and cheap.”
Some crypto fans even joked on social media they missed Gary Gensler, the recently departed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who was viewed as the Biden administration’s chief crypto antagonist thanks to the SEC’s aggressive enforcement actions against crypto companies.
Meme coins are among the wilder and more unregulated corners of the crypto universe. They often start as a joke with no real value but can surge in price if enough people are willing to buy them. Popular meme coins include Dogecoin, whose mascot is a dog, and Fartcoin. Scammers have tried to pump up the price