Three days before taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump launched his own crypto asset: $TRUMP. By the eve of his inauguration, Trump’s share of the so-called memecoin was worth $58 billion, making him, on paper, one of the richest people on the planet. Although the price of the Trump memecoin has fallen from its peak, the dangers of the president’s anything-goes approach to crypto has never been more apparent.

Trump could use this crypto scheme to extract cash from not only his most loyal supporters but also anyone who might want to curry favor with his administration in the coming months. Even many people in the crypto industry, which helped get Trump elected, have already spoken out about how scammy and predatory Trump’s memecoin project is. Trump and friends own a vast majority of the new memecoin supply, which means when they decide to sell their holdings, the price will fall, leaving Trump much richer (in actual money) and Trump memecoin investors poorer. It has the makings of a classic pump and dump scenario.

“I wouldn’t call this a scam,” said Omid Malekan, an associate professor at Columbia Business School. “Because to me, anytime someone calls something a scam, there’s an element of deception. There’s no deception here.”

Indeed, this is all happening in plain sight. The Trump memecoin’s official website, featuring the slogan “Celebrate Our Win & Have Fun,” includes a schedule of when more “Trump Memes” will be released. There is also some fine print clarifying that CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, both Trump-affiliated........

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