House Democrats will introduce legislation to ban the issuance of meme tokens for top officials

The development of the document began after the launch of Trump and his wife Melania’s coins

27.02.2025 - 16:05

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What’s new? Members of the Democratic Party in the US House of Representatives will present a bill that would prohibit the highest officials of the country from earning money on the issue of personal meme tokens. The development of the bill began after the launch of meme tokens of Donald Trump and his wife Melania, which on the background of the inauguration rose in value, bringing the authors substantial income.

Material by ABCNews

What else is known? If the bill is passed, the president, vice president, members of Congress, senior executive branch officials, their spouses, and children in support would be prohibited from issuing, sponsoring, or promoting securities, futures, commodities, or digital assets.

The document was authored by Democratic Representative Sam Liccardo of California, a former federal and local criminal prosecutor. He said the president and the former have capitalized on their meme coins and enriched investors around the world who invested in the asset at the start.

“Let’s make corruption criminal again. Our public offices belong to the public, not the officeholders, nor should they leverage their political authority for financial gain. The Trumps’ issuance of meme coins financially exploits the public for personal gain, and raises the specter of insider trading and foreign influence over the Executive Branch,” Liccardo concluded.

The bill would impose criminal and civil penalties, as well as prohibit new profits from an asset issued before the bill was passed, making it retroactive.

Trump launched the coin in January, days before he took office on January 20. Melania’s coin was released a week earlier. Back in July, during the campaign, Trump said he wanted to turn the US into the “crypto capital of the planet”.

Liccardo’s bill is expected to be unlikely to become law within the next two years due to Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

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