Quick Take
- The senators accused President Donald Trump of being involved in a “rug pull” and called on the agency to determine whether securities laws had been violated.
- The letter comes as the White House is mulling the latest compromise to address Trumps crypto forays as a way to move forward with potentially passing broad crypto legislation into law.
Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal are calling on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate President Donald Trump's memecoin.
In a letter sent Monday to SEC Chair Paul Atkins, the senators pointed to reports that nearly 1 million crypto wallets have lost money since the launch of Trump's memecoin (TRUMP) in January 2025, with combined losses totaling about $3.81 billion. They accused Trump of being involved in a “rug pull” and called on the agency to determine whether securities laws had been violated.
“Given sharp depreciation in the coin‘s value—despite the hype coming directly from the President’s own public statements—the SEC must investigate whether a fraudulent scheme may be underway, and prevent further extraction of enormous value from the hundreds of thousands of investors who put their faith in Trumps coin,” they said.
The letter comes as the White House is mulling the latest compromise to address Trump's crypto forays as a way to move forward with potentially passing broad crypto legislation into law. A previous version was signed off by Trump, but was quickly disapproved by Democrats in part because it would leave the Justice Department in charge of enforcing a provision that bars public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets but does not cover other family members.
The White House has not responded to requests for comment on the latest ethics compromise. The timing is significant as senators are set to leave on Friday for an August recess before shifting their focus to elections in November.
Warren and Blumenthal say Trump had an “active interest in getting his supporters to trade” his memecoin, adding that the president made $636 million from his memecoin.
Trump launched his memecoin a few days before his inauguration in January 2025. As of Tuesday, TRUMP has a market cap of $362 million and is ranked 112 among other cryptocurrencies, according to The Block's price data.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The SEC declined to comment.
If Congress fails to pass the Clarity Act this year, the SEC is expected to continue developing its own regulatory framework for digital assets. Under the Trump administration, the SEC has clarified its stance on several different issues, including memecoins, where it said that they were not securities. Atkins is also expected to debut an innovation exemption for tokenized equities.
In a note on Tuesday, TD Cowens Washington Research Group, led by managing director Jaret Seiberg, said they expect the SEC to move forward with its plans for exemptive relief if Clarity does not advance this week.
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