Democrats Call Out Trump’s Crypto Ventures

The MEME Act

After the ridiculous success of the TRUMP meme coin, which turned many early investors into millionaires seemingly overnight, Senator Chris Murphy introduced the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement Act (MEME Act) on May 6th, designed to prevent federal officials from leveraging their positions to benefit from meme-based cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

According to the bill’s summary, the MEME Act would bar the President, Vice President, all members of Congress, senior executive officials, and their immediate family members from issuing, promoting, or investing in securities, futures, commodities, or digital assets.

Source: X (@ChrisMurphyCT)

Violations could result in civil fines up to $250,000, forfeiture of any related profits to the U.S. Treasury, and criminal penalties including fines and a maximum of five years in prison. There is also reportedly little to no chance of bail, however that has not yet been confirmed as of the time of this writing.

Representative Sam Liccardo also introduced a companion bill in the House. However, with both chambers of Congress currently under Republican control, the legislation faces an uphill battle without bipartisan support, which is unlikely since Democrats would never agree with Republicans unless they had no other choice.

Subcommittee Probes TRUMP & Related Ventures

Apart from the MEME Act, Senator Richard Blumenthal, a high-ranking member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), recently announced a preliminary inquiry into the Official Trump (TRUMP) token, the Trump-aligned financial platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), and affiliated entities.

On May 6th, Blumenthal confirmed the PSI had sent letters to ‘Fight Fight Fight’, the company behind the infamous TRUMP token, and to WLFI, requesting records and communications involving the Trump Organization as well as anyone else who may be associated with them.

Source: X (@SenBlumenthal)

The inquiry aims to determine whether these firms have taken appropriate steps to avoid conflicts of interest. If these steps have in fact not been taken, then the aforementioned democratic lawmakers have made it clear that they plan to initiate a comprehensive lawsuit against the United States President and his associates.

Among the issues raised is the spike in the TRUMP token’s price, from $9.40 to $13.65, following an April 23rd announcement that the top 220 token holders would be invited to a gala dinner at the White House. The dinner will be hosted by none other than Donald Trump himself.

The TRUMP token, which debuted on January 18th, briefly peaked at $73.43 according to CoinGecko, but has since fallen more than 85% and currently trades around $11.13.

Over Half Of TRUMP Holders Are in Profit

Chainalysis, a reputable blockchain analytics firm, recently shared some interesting data which clearly showed around two million wallets that have purchased the TRUMP meme coin. Following the dinner announcement, another 54,000 wallets added the token.

While about 764,000 holders, mainly smaller investors, are underwater, a core group of 58 major investors have each made over a whopping $10 million, amounting to a collective $1.1 billion in profit.

Chainalysis also estimates the meme coin’s creator has personally profited to the tune of $320 million, with an additional $1.3 million in gains generated since the White House gala was announced.

Freight Firm Banks On TRUMP

Meanwhile, trucking logistics company Freight Technologies announced on April 30th its intention to build a TRUMP token treasury using funds raised through a $20 million convertible note.

CEO Javier Selgas described the investment as both a strategic treasury diversification and a way to promote balanced, fair trade between Mexico and the U.S.

Earlier, on April 1st, the company also disclosed it had purchased $5.2 million worth of Fetch.ai’s FET tokens, further expanding its digital asset holdings.