Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-Calif.) will introduce Thursday a bill that would block the president, members of Congress and other senior officials, as well as their spouses and children, from issuing or sponsoring securities and cryptocurrencies like memecoins, according to a draft of the bill seen by the Associated Press.
The Modern Emoluments and Malfeasance Enforcement, or MEME Act, would also force U.S. President Donald Trump to "disgorge" any profits he’s made from the sale of his family's memecoins.
"Let’s make corruption criminal again," Liccardo said in a video posted to X, noting that the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution prevents government officials from accepting gifts or other benefits from foreign governments without congressional approval.
President Trump and his wife Melania Trump each launched an official memecoin shortly before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. Official Trump surged north of $70 a share within days but currently trades around $12.89 according to The Block's TRUMP price data. Melania Meme hit a high near $13 and now trades around $0.86, price data shows.
President Trump and his family have supported the launch of World Liberty Financial, a DeFi protocol whose critics argue that the token's structure allows the Trump family to profit from political influence while offering no direct claims to the reserve for token holders.
"That behavior is so self-evidently unethical that it raises the question why isn’t there a clear enough prohibition," Liccardo told the AP.
Trump embraced the crypto world in 2024 and recently signed an executive order to explore a strategic digital asset reserve. He tapped crypto-friendly Paul Atkins to lead the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Republican Commissioner Hester Peirce to lead a crypto task force.
Within the past week, the SEC has withdrawn cases against Coinbase, Gemini, OpenSea, Robinhood and UniSwap.
While some see memecoins as collectibles with lasting value, others warn that an influx of speculative coins, and even memecoin exchange-traded products, could damage the industry’s reputation.
“What are they?” Hunter Horsley, CEO of crypto asset manager Bitwise, recently posited on X. “What’s an autographed baseball? What’s your favorite band’s merch? ... They’re culture imbued collectibles. And in the case of memecoins: they’re tokenized, creating liquid global markets. It’s not Bitcoin or a crypto asset. It’s something else. And it’s here to stay."
Of note, traders recently lost $251 million on the LIBRA token that Argentine President Javier Milei briefly appeared to support. Analysts warn that these hype-driven memecoin projects overshadow legitimate innovation. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin mused they could represent avenues for public bribery.
Liccardo's bill has brought renewed calls to ban all politicians from buying and selling stocks. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has become the poster child for this effort, thanks to a widely followed Pelosi stock tracker on X.
"Can we also ban politicians from trading stocks while we're at it?" Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said Thursday in a post on X. "Create a broad-based index fund of American companies and require elected officials to move their money into that fund or Treasuries."
There have been several attempts to ban stock trading among members of Congress, among others, to no avail. The AP noted Liccardo’s bill "has no chance of passing in this Republican-controlled Congress," but the lawmaker said it could serve as a placeholder if or when Democrats return to power.
"We are a free market economy," Pelosi told lawmakers in 2021 in defense of their ability to trade. "They should be able to participate in that."
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