Donald and Melania Trump launch a pair of meme coins ahead of inauguration, raising serious ethics concerns

 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/20/tech/meme-coins-donald-melania-trump-intl-hnk/index.html

Now, Trump will not only preside over how the federal government will regulate crypto, he can personally cash in on the outcome.

“I believe it is very dangerous to have the people who are supposed to oversee regulating financial instruments investing in them at the same time,” Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, told CNN. “There’s no precedent for a head of state to launch a personal cryptocurrency.”

Painter, the top ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush Administration, said the launch of the meme coins just hours before inauguration raises “serious ethical questions about conflicts of interest.”

“The coin’s value could be influenced by his actions or policies once in office, particularly as Trump has said he will be more crypto-friendly, which will likely further inflate the coin’s value at least temporarily,” Painter said.