Following Investor Losses, Warren and Blumenthal Urge SEC to Investigate President Trump’s Memecoin

Following Investor Losses, Warren and Blumenthal Urge SEC to Investigate President Trump's Memecoin

"We request that you exercise your authority to investigate the President's memecoin to detect any illegal fraud or unjust enrichment that the coin may have facilitated"

"As Congress considers crypto market structure legislation, it is critical that Congress and the SEC both do their parts to protect investors and keep the President and his family from profiting off of cryptocurrency while in office."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ranking Member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Ranking Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, sent a letter to Paul Atkins, Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), urging him to investigate whether President Trump's memecoin, $TRUMP, facilitated any illegal fraud or unjust enrichment following reports that nearly a million investors lost over $3.8 billion on the coin while Trump himself made $636 million.

On January 17, 2025, three days before President Trump's inauguration, $TRUMP debuted. The very next day, Trump posted an advertisement for the coin on X. Reports indicate that other traders were able to pounce early and profit from the initial hype as ordinary investors were still reacting to the news of its release. This early trading, which some observers have speculated could have been based on inside information, proved to be extremely lucrative for some, but nearly a million everyday investors lost a total of $3.81 billion.

"We are concerned that President Trump's memecoin scheme may constitute an illegal scam, such as a 'rug pull,'" wrote the Senators. "Given sharp depreciation in the coin's value-despite the hype coming directly from the President's own public statements-the SEC must investigate whether a fraudulent scheme may be underway, and prevent further extraction of enormous value from the hundreds of thousands of investors who put their faith in Trump's coin."

The Ranking Members noted that as crypto market structure legislation is under consideration, it is critical that Congress and the SEC both do their parts to protect investors and prevent the President from profiting off of cryptocurrency while he sets the rules to regulate the industry.

###

• Print
• Email
• Tweet