Former Donald Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci critiqued the president-elect’s meme coin price as “corruption” on Saturday as the market cap for the cryptocurrency surges.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s transition team via email for comment on Saturday morning.

Why It Matters

Trump announced on Friday in a Truth Social post the launch of his new official “$TRUMP” meme coin to celebrate “WINNING.” Since launching the meme coin, the cryptocurrency market’s response has been considerable. According to Binance, the price of the coin is continuing to climb after the announcement, from $0.18 to a live price of $22.94, with $TRUMP currently standing with a 24-hour trading volume of $5.77 billion. This marks a 253.75 percent increase in the last 24 hours with a current market cap of $4.59 billion.

Since Trump’s announcement, critics, including Scaramucci, have taken aim at his new venture, which saw Solana (SOL) develop the coin, creating 200 million tokens for its launch—although the overall supply will be 1 billion in the next three years. The critiques come after Trump has continued to use his image and status, specifically amid his 2024 presidential campaign, to sell a wide range of items.

What To Know

“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW,” Trump wrote on Truth Social with a graphic of himself on the meme coin with the words “fight, fight, fight” as well as the website link to buy it.

In a Saturday post on X, formerly Twitter, Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s White House director of communications for 10 days in July 2017 and has also become a Trump critic, responded to the president-elect’s meme coin by criticizing it as “corruption” and “bad for the industry.”

“The Trump meme coin stuff is bad for the industry. Don’t delude yourself. It’s Idi Amin level corruption,” he wrote.

Scaramucci’s post referred to Idi Amin, a Uganda dictator who ruled as the third president of Uganda and was ousted in 1979 after years of being tied to a corruption and gross economic mismanagement.

According to Coinbase, while meme coins are cryptocurrencies often inspired by internet memes or trends, they are also typically considered risky and volatile trading assets.

“Engaging with meme coins carries risk and is something you should only attempt armed with research and experience,” Coinbase writes on its website.

However, meme coins have increased in visibility in recent years largely due to endorsements from high-profile individuals and the role of meme coins in digital culture, according to Coinbase.

This isn’t the first time Trump has used photos of himself to sell various items. These included collectible digital trading cards featuring him as a superhero, $399 gold high-top sneakers, $100 “MAGADonalds” T-shirts, and even $60 “God Save America” Bibles, which reportedly netted him $300,000 overall. In September, “TRUMP Watches” were launched, with Trump asking his supporters to spend at least $499 to join “President Trump’s Watch Community.”

The increase in merchandise has also brought criticism as Mary Trump, the president-elect’s estranged niece, accused her uncle in November of “grifting” during the holiday season as she condemned his use of selling merchandise that is affiliated with himself.

While it is unclear how much Trump makes from all the products and business ventures as some are collaborations with other brands, in 2023, it was reported that Trump made between $100,000 and $1 million for a series of digital trading cards, which he re-released in 2024 for $99 apiece as a new “America First Collection.”

What People Are Saying

Aaron Rupar, an independent journalist and prominent Trump critic, wrote on X: “The president-elect launches a pretend money grift two days before taking office.”

Ben Meiselas, MeidasTouch co-founder, wrote on X: “Instead of lowering prices or ending war in Ukraine, Trump is selling ‘meme coins’ right before the inauguration. He doesn’t give a crap about our country. The world is laughing at us.”

Mary Trump in a YouTube video posted on November 27 said: “…Donald and his cronies are back at it with their favorite family tradition grifting. Let’s get into the side hustle that they are starting to call the ‘parallel economy.’ For those unfamiliar the parallel economy is a MAGA marketplace where conservatives pedal products to their followers promising freedom for a price.”

What Happens Next

The launch of the meme coin comes as Trump will be inaugurated as the next president on Monday.