“$Trump”, “MelaniaCoin”… The Trump couple launched two digital currencies bearing their image, a few hours before the inauguration of the new American president. An operation which raises questions on the ethical level, but also on the republican's vision of the economy, according to journalist Nastasia Hadjadji, interviewed by franceinfo.
Valuations that exceeded the GDP of certain countries in a few hours. Donald and Melania Trump launched their own cryptocurrencies last weekend, one day apart, just before the inauguration of the new American president on Monday, November 20.
Their market value quickly reached stratospheric levels, in a context where bitcoin reached new records, crossing the $109,000 mark. This financial transaction, which exposes Donald Trump to numerous conflicts of interest, is a “poker move” which aims “short-term enrichment”estimates Nastasia Hadjadji, independent journalist specializing in the digital economy.
Franceinfo: How to explain the creation of these cryptocurrencies a few hours before the inauguration of Donald Trump?
Nastasia Hadjadji : This speculative operation benefits from the considerable uplift represented by the coming to power of Donald Trump. However, there are a certain number of rules that apply to the enrichment of politicians. So, a priori, by launching this cryptocurrency two days before his inauguration, the president-elect limits the risks of falling foul of the law and the American Constitution. Donald Trump and his wife Melania are also at a political climax, so this is a particularly opportunistic and cynical position. Should we be surprised, given the career of Trump, who built his fortune on his ability to exploit loopholes and enrich himself at the expense of others?
In the case of these new cryptocurrencies, we talk about “meme coin”, what is it?
It is a “token”, a digital asset, which is based on a reference to an internet meme, therefore to an image which has an ironic significance specific to web culture. You have for example the famous Dogecoin, which has become the acronym of a government agency, but also the Fartcoin, “fart” for “fart” in French, whose market capitalization is astronomical for something which is based on nothing . All it takes is for me to circulate a photo tomorrow of my toes fanned out on my sofa, and for this photo to have a viral reach so that behind it, some smart guy has fun creating a token and attaching it to this image . It is an economy of nothingness, speculation based on fiction and viral content circulating on the internet.
So this operation is not aimed at a particular economic project?
-This sequence tells us that we are in a casino economy system such that an asset that did not exist two weeks ago can now have a market valuation of several tens of billions of dollars.
“It's really financial nihilism, the only objective is the financial hit, the poker move, and short-term enrichment. Spectacle integrated into capitalism on steroids and without framework.”
Nastasia Hadjadjiat franceinfo
By what mechanism does this allow Donald and Melania Trump to enrich themselves?
In the first place, these are the ones who issue these tokens, and there these are two third-party companies. One is called CIC Digital LLC, which launched Donald Trump's first NFT (“non-fungible token”, digital assets) projects. And the cryptocurrency created this weekend was via the company Fight Fight Fight LLC. Both entities are based in the US state of Delaware [un Etat souvent considéré comme un paradis fiscal] and are directly associated with Trump. So the first person who got rich was Donald Trump. According to a graph published by the media Axios, his fortune has multiplied in a few days.
Beyond the operation itself, what does this say about the political context?
The cryptoeconomy was established as the first private financier of the campaign. What is the nature of the transition between this industry and the candidate elected president? “We give you money, we get you elected thanks to our millions. And in return, you must give a very strong signal to cancel the coloring of the Biden presidency”, namely a presidency which attempted to put in place a minimal regulatory framework. So, the first welcome return expected: deregulation of the sector. This can result in the placement, at the head of administrations responsible for overseeing this economy, of people who are openly pro-crypto, or the fact of organizing effective lobbying to place a majority of pro-crypto senators in Congress. . Second return: legitimize this sector by integrating it into the real economy. There is strong lobbying for bridges between the crypto economy and the banking system, for example by authorizing crypto platforms to hold accounts in traditional banks. There is also this famous idea – still a rumor – of a strategic reserve in bitcoin, even if Donald Trump would be more favorable to sovereign cryptocurrencies, therefore created and hosted in the United States.
