Democrats were aghast when President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump launched their own memecoins in January days before Trump took office. “Anyone, including the leaders of hostile nations, can covertly buy these coins, raising the specter of uninhibited and untraceable foreign influence,” wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a January letter to U.S. regulators.
In response, Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) introduced legislation Thursday that would prohibit U.S. politicians from launching their own cryptocurrencies, according to a press release his office issued Thursday morning.
Dubbed the Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act, the bill would prevent the president, vice president, members of Congress, and high-level members of the executive branch from issuing a security or commodity.
If officials have already issued a cryptocurrency, the new act would stop them from promoting the digital asset or engage in other conduct that would benefit them financially. Those who violate the law would be subject to criminal and civil penalties. The MEME act has more than a dozen co-sponsors, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) and Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.).
“Let’s make corruption criminal again,” Liccardo said in a statement. “Our public offices belong to the public, not the officeholders.”
Liccardo’s bill comes amid a flood of scrutiny on memecoins after Trump, the president of the Central African Republic, and the president of Argentina have all endorsed or launched their own tokens in the past month.
Memecoins are cryptocurrencies that have no utility. Their prices jump up and down depending purely on associations with celebrities and whether traders find their names or branding funny. Stars like Iggy Azalea, Caitlyn Jenner, and Jason Derulo have all issued or endorsed their own tokens, which often initially rocket in price before inevitably dropping.
In January, Trump and his wife Melania jumped into the fray and launched their own memecoins: TRUMP and MELANIA. Trump’s token surged to a market capitalization of more than $14 billion before plummeting to now about $2.6 billion, according to CoinGecko. Melania’s memecoin similarly rocketed to a high of almost $2 billion before plummeting to now around $123 million in market capitalization.
Democrats and even the crypto industry criticized the Trump family’s memecoin foray. “Call me old-fashioned but I think presidents should focus on running the country and not launching scam tokens,” wrote Nic Carter, a prominent crypto investor and supporter of Trump, on X.
The most notorious political token to date appears to be the LIBRA coin issued by Argentine President Javier Milei. Its market capitalization soared to $4.5 billion before collapsing 99% to now around $30 million after insiders who held tokens before Milei’s endorsement cashed out their holdings shortly after Milei posted about the memecoin on X, according to analysis from TRM Labs.
An Argentine judge has opened up a fraud investigation into Milei, and political opponents have called for his impeachment.