Trump begins selling new coins days before his inauguration

President-elect Donald J. Trump and his family on Friday began selling a cryptocurrency bearing an image of Mr. Trump taken from the July assassination attempt, a potentially lucrative new business that has been attacked by ethics experts as a blatant attempt to profit from the office. About to be occupied again.

Unveiled just days before his second inauguration, the project is the latest in a series of moves by Mr. Trump that blur the line between his government role and his family’s ongoing efforts to leverage his power and global fame. This is another sign that the Trump family will be less reluctant in his second term to bend or violate traditional moral boundaries.

Mr. Trump himself Announce the launch announced his new job on Friday evening on his social media platform, between announcements about filling key federal government positions. He calls the token $Trump, and sells it under the slogan “Join the Trump Community. This is history in the making!”

The project was organized by CIC Digital LLC, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, which actually organized this project A bunch of others have been sold Merchandise types like sneakers, Trump-branded perfumes, and even digital trading cards.

But this latest venture brings Mr. Trump and his family directly into the world of selling cryptocurrencies, which is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Mr. Trump recently revealed his intention to name a crypto advocate Chairman of the Supreme Education Council.

A disclosure on the website that sells the tokens says that CIC Digital and its affiliates own 80 percent of the supply of new Trump tokens that will be issued gradually over the next three years, and that “trading revenues” will be paid to them as tokens. Sold.

Ethics lawyers immediately condemned the move by Mr. Trump and his family, and said they could not recall a more blatant profiteering effort by an incoming president.

“It’s literally leveraging the presidency — creating a financial instrument so that people can transfer money to the president’s family in connection with his office,” said Adav Notti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit ethics group. “It’s unprecedented.”

Eric Trump, who helps manage the Trump Organization’s business operations, said Saturday that the offer was part of a new and growing business sector the Trump family has entered.

“I am incredibly proud of what we continue to accomplish in cryptocurrency,” Eric Trump said in a statement to The New York Times. “$Trump is currently the most popular digital meme on Earth.” “This is just the beginning,” he added.

But even some in the cryptocurrency industry were quick to criticize the new token.

“Trump owning 80% of his shares and timing his release hours before his inauguration is predatory and will likely hurt many,” wrote Nick Tomino, an analyst. Crypto venture capitalist And a former executive at Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, in Social media Posted on Saturday.

The president-elect and his three sons, as of late last year, had lent their name to another cryptocurrency startup called Global financial freedoman arrangement that involved a token cut of sales to the Trump family in exchange for help promoting the new brand.

But the Trumps, along with World Liberty Financial, were not actually like that Platform owners Or company officials

There are other crypto coins on the market based on Mr. Trump that are not directly related to his family like the new Trump Meme. Typically, so-called meme coins — which were born when coins were created as a joke inspired by internet memes or cartoon animal faces — are largely worthless and traded like a hobby.

Through this new project, companies linked to Mr. Trump’s family have a direct financial stake in the value of the new tokens and in their sales volume, which rose rapidly after they were introduced to the market.

“GetTrumpMemes.com is non-political and has no affiliation with any political campaign, political office, or government agency,” the project’s website says, adding that “Trump memes are intended to serve as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the $” symbol. TRUMP”.

The tokens are not intended to be viewed as “an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any kind,” legal disclosures say. But their trading on cryptocurrency markets began immediately, sending the value of each token rising from $7 to nearly $30 as of Saturday afternoon.

This indicates that the so-called fully diluted value of all tokens as of Saturday afternoon It was $30 billionThis is a number achieved less than a day after the token went on the market, according to CoinMarketCap, a website that tracks cryptocurrency trading.

Mr. Trump and his family were clear in the marketing of the new coin that the image chosen for the coin was inspired by the July assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“President Trump faced death and came out fighting!” says the website promoting the tokens.

Cryptocurrency markets tend to be very volatile, partly because tokens are not backed by any tangible assets. The website for Mr. Trump’s new venture includes a wide range A set of disclaimers Limiting the ability of anyone who buys the token to file a class action lawsuit related to it and warning buyers that “Trump Memes may be highly volatile, and price fluctuations in cryptocurrencies can affect the price.”

Mr. Trump has already made it clear that he will work to boost the cryptocurrency industry.

He has announced his intention to appoint regulatory bodies that will lift restrictions on the sale of new tokens and relationships between cryptocurrency companies and other traditional financial institutions.

This contrasts with efforts by regulators under Biden to strictly regulate the industry. Out of concern A sudden collapse in the value of the cryptocurrency could lead to a financial collapse in the future.