After last week’s memecoin frenzy, fueled by the US President’s official token launch, the crypto community is split on the possible implications of Donald Trump’s memecoin enterprise. Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin shared his concerns concerning the potential negative impact and “risks” of those tokens.
Politician Tokens: Sources Of Fun Or Vehicles For Bribery?
Every week ago, US President Donald Trump took the crypto market by storm after launching his official token, TRUMP. The memecoin broke all records for newly launched cryptocurrencies, reaching a trading volume of over $10 billion, an all-time high (ATH) of $75, and a market capitalization of $15 billion in lower than two days.
Nonetheless, the unprecedented launch raised concerns among the many crypto community. Many investors expressed skepticism, which intensified after seeing the token’s allocation was revealed. In accordance with the official website, only 20% of the 1 billion TRUMP tokens created can be available to the general public, while the opposite 80% was allocated to the issuers.
Because of this, several community members have stated their doubts concerning the potential long-term implications of the TRUMP memecoin. Amongst these, Ethereum’s co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, took X to share his perspective.
On Thursday, Buterin revealed his concerns about “the risks of politician coins,” explaining that it’s time to open a conversation concerning the industry’s “latest order”:
During the last 12 months, we’ve been entering a latest order. Now, essentially the most powerful people on the earth are cheering on the thought of anyone creating tokens for anything, at any scale. And so now’s the time to speak concerning the difference between sugar-high short-term fun that’s unwise to recommend to newbies, and long-term success and wealth-building.
To the Ethereum founder, the conversation mustn’t be about “fun is bad” but “the incontrovertible fact that large-scale political coins cross an extra line.” He considers these tokens to not be a source of fun, with their harm contained in “mistakes made by voluntary participants.”
As an alternative, politicians’ tokens risk being “vehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation-states.” After being inquired, Buterin further explained his position, stating that the risks of those cryptocurrencies come from being a “perfect” bribery vehicle, as it might not be mandatory to send any tokens to provide them money.
He suggests that an individual could buy and hold the token, which might increase the worth of their holdings passively. Because of this, this might allow deniability, which can be a risk to democracy.
Buterin explains the potential risks of politician tokens. Source: Vitalik Buterin on X
Crypto Community Split On Politician Memecoin
Buterin’s comments ignited a debate, with many community members disagreeing together with his view. One X user considers that the Ethereum founder is “missing the purpose,” as bribery already exists, and it might be “higher” if it’s visible on-chain.
One other user noted that Politician tokens could “democratize fundraising and align incentives with communities,” adding, “Innovation shouldn’t be dismissed since it challenges old systems.”
Recently, CrpyotQuant’s CEO, Ki Young Ju, shared the same perspective. As reported by Bitcoinist, Ju considers that Trump “opened the era of memecoins,” as celebrity tokens are only considered one of the forms memecoins can take.
Ju explains the change in opinion on memecoins. Ki Young Ju on X
He asserted that it was price considering the right way to make essentially the most out of them and suggested that President Trump could potentially use those holding his cryptocurrency as a “powerful community base for collective actions.”
Ju also noted that these tokens’ value will rely upon what the figure attached to them does, concluding that the continuing wave seemed “unstoppable” until 2028.
Total crypto market capitalization is at $3.57 trillion within the one-week chart. Source: TOTAL on TradingView
Featured Image from Unsplash.com, Chart from TradingView.com