Democrats were aghast when President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched their own memecoins in January days before Trump took office. “Anyone, including the leaders of hostile nations, can covertly buy these coins, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence,” wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a January TRUMP and MELANIA. Trump’s token surged to a market capitalization of more than $14 billion before plummeting to now about $2.6 billion, according to CoinGecko. Melania’s memecoin similarly rocketed to a high of almost $2 billion before plummeting to now around $123 million in market capitalization.
Democrats and even the crypto industry criticized the Trump family’s memecoin foray. "Call me old-fashioned but I think presidents should focus on running the country and not launching scam tokens,” wrote Nic Carter, a prominent crypto investor and supporter of Trump, on X.
The most notorious political token to date appears to be the LIBRA coin issued by Argentine President Javier Milei. Its market capitalization soared to $4.5 billion before collapsing 99% to now around $30 million after insiders who held tokens before Milei’s endorsement cashed out their holdings shortly after Milei posted about the memecoin on X, according to analysis from TRM Labs.
An Argentine judge has opened up a fraud investigation into Milei, and political opponents have called for his impeachment.
