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Donald Trump’s new meme coin has reportedly sparked hundreds of copycat and spam tokens to appear, despite having no formal connection to $TRUMP. According to the Financial Times, more than 700 digital imitations have been sent to Trump’s official wallet “by people apparently seeking to suggest their creations have his endorsement.”
The FT reported that 736 different meme coins had been deposited in the official Trump coin wallet in the past three weeks. Nearly 200 were named after the 47th president and his family members, although they had no actual links to them.
In January, ReadWrite reported that crypto analysts found 6,800 fraudulent tokens and 91 fake malicious decentralized applications (dApps) since $TRUMP made its $72 billion debut. On the same launch day, tokens using the name ‘Trump’ increased by 206%.
Last month, there were also Solana-based (SOL) fake meme coins pretending to be First Lady Melania Trump’s official coin. The fake tokens attracted $4.8 million worth of funds from 12,641 addresses in just 24 hours.
Trump meme coin sparks backlash amid copycat claims
The decision to release the token has been met with fierce criticism. George Kailas, CEO at Prospero.Ai told ReadWrite: “We’ve moved from presidents placing their assets in blind trusts to openly profiting from their name through meme coins.
“The idea of ‘buying a security’ in a president should have sparked outrage, but instead, it’s become a direct source of enrichment without consequences.”
Kalias continued: “The most troubling part? People aren’t asking questions anymore. Instead of questioning the ethics of a president launching a coin, they’re buying in. The focus has shifted from accountability to personal profit, and that should concern everyone.”
Eswar Prasad, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the FT that by creating a meme coin, Trump has “opened the floodgates to deception . . . and at a minimum to rampant speculation,” exposing investors to various risks.
Bloomberg ran a story a few days ago about the trading activity around the TRUMP memecoin that hasn't gotten enough attention. Not the insider stake, but the trading of the liquid portion. Snippets and analysis below
This should be a scandal and an end to myth that the memecoin… pic.twitter.com/pSnJ9cYrgC
— Omid Malekan 🧙🏽♂️ (@malekanoms) February 5, 2025
Blockchain analysts are also raising eyebrows over some suspicious trading activity around Trump’s meme coin. The on-chain analytics firm Bubblemaps dug into a crypto wallet that is said to have received $1 million just four hours before the TRUMP token went live, suggesting there could be some insider trading at play. Omid Malekan, adjunct professor at Columbia Business School, has said it certainly has the “hallmarks” of it.
Featured image: Grok
