Did the Haliey "Hawk Tuah Girl" Welch saga teach us nothing? Did Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson not tell us that meme coins are 'icky'? The idea of celebrating Donald Trump's return to the Oval Office with a meme coin might've sounded like a patriotic way to usher in this new era of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence advancements, and with 500 people reportedly becoming millionaires overnight, it looked like some were destined to become pretty rich.
Not least of them was Trump himself, with the returning POTUS making billions off the back of the meme coin. As we've already warned, meme coins can be volatile and have been compared to 'gambling' by some, which was shown by the launch of Melania Trump's own $MELANIA coin wiping a ton of value off her husband's.
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The Commander in Chief and his wife have come under fire recently, with the current worth of Melania's coin being branded as 'disgusting' just over a month after it was first launched. To put it into context, those who invested $10,000 in Melania's coin during its inauguration peak of $13.73 find the total would now be worth just $652.44.
Things aren’t looking much better for $TRUMP, as it's managed to wipe 80% off its value since its January 17 launch. As reported by The Telegraph, $TRUMP has spectacularly dropped from its January 19 peak of $73.43.
Having plummeted from $15 billion to $2.7 billion on February 27, it currently sits at a measly $11.27 at the time of writing and has lost over $12 billion. The site also claims that the value of the coins owned by Trump himself has been slashed by a jaw-dropping $50 billion.
It's bad news across the board for crypto, with the dramatic drop of interest in $TRUMP and $MELANIA being part of a wider fallout. After Bitcoin similarly hit an all-time high of $108,786 on January 20's inauguration day, it's slumped down to just $79,844. This goes against the projections of some, who predicted Bitcoin could soar past $200,000 per coin in 2025.
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Things aren't looking great for Trump vowing to be the world's first 'crypto president' or the appointment of venture capitalist David Sacks as the White House's very own 'Crypto Tsar'.
These crypto concerns come as California freshman Democrat Rep. Sam Liccardo puts the President's meme coin monopoly in his crosshairs. Speaking to ABC News, Liccardo explained how he wants to enact legislation that would stop White House officials and their families from capitalizing on meme coins.
The Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act would prevent everyone from the President to members of Congress (as well as their families) from "sponsoring or endorsing a security, future, commodity or digital asset."
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Liccardo added: "Let’s make corruption criminal again. Our public offices belong to the public, not the officeholders, nor should they leverage their political authority for financial gain.
"The Trumps’ issuance of meme coins financially exploits the public for personal gain, and raises the specter of insider trading and foreign influence over the Executive Branch."
If things continue the way they are, Liccardo might not have much to worry about, as the interest in the Trump dynasty meme coins looks like it's continuing to dwindle.