Public Citizen Files Complaint Over Trump’s Meme Coin, Cites Foreign Payment Risks

U.S. nonprofit Public Citizen is looking for a federal investigation into whether or not President Donald Trump violated legal guidelines barring present solicitation by allegedly selling a Solana-based meme token, citing issues over untraceable international funds.

The federal government, company, and shopper watchdog lodged its formal complaint with the Division of Justice and Workplace of Authorities Ethics on Wednesday, citing Trump’s social media posts, which it says had been used to advertise his Official Trump (TRUMP) token after taking workplace in January.

The DOJ, OGE, and Public Citizen didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Makes an attempt to achieve the President via the White Home Press Workplace went unanswered.

Trump seems to be “soliciting cash in alternate for nothing—that’s, asking for a present that may profit him personally,” Public Citizen’s Bartlett Naylor and Craig Holman wrote of their criticism.

The criticism cites a number of authorized issues surrounding Trump’s promotion of the meme cash, involving a number of overlapping areas of federal regulation, constitutional provisions, and moral pointers.

Past gifting guidelines, Public Citizen raised constitutional issues concerning the meme coin’s potential to masks international funds that had been banned beneath the Emoluments Clause.

“Due to the character of a cryptocurrency alternate, it’s tough to know whether or not international state actors are gifting the president by means of buying a Trump meme,” the criticism states.

The criticism argues that permitting such solicitations to go unchecked may normalize the exploitation of public workplace for revenue, eroding federal ethics legal guidelines whereas arguing officers must be barred from private enrichment via such means.

“Ought to the president be allowed to complement himself on this means, different politician[s] may comply with this path,” Naylor and Holman wrote.

Comply with the cash

The meme token’s website explains it’s 80% owned by CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Group managed by Trump’s revocable belief, of which he’s the only real beneficiary.

Knowledge visualized via Bubblemaps shows the token’s switch exercise and holder focus, with the biggest bubble holding 80% as described in its tokenomic mannequin.

The token itself has shaved 32% of its worth prior to now week as a result of a broader crypto downturn and elevated volatility triggered by Trump’s proposed tariffs on China, Canada, and Mexico.

Whereas the president has since walked again Tariffs on Canada and Mexico, a ten% levy on all Chinese language imports stays in place. 

In response, China has imposed retaliatory tariffs, together with a 15% levy on U.S. coal and LNG and 10% on crude oil, farm gear, vehicles, and large-engine sedans imported from the U.S.

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair