Amid Trump, Melania Token Frenzy, Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin Warns Of 'Unlimited Political Bribery' Via Memecoins

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum ETH/USD, expressed concerns over the rise of political meme coins on Thursday, warning that they could become “vehicles for unlimited political bribery.”

What Happened: In an X post, Buterin criticized the current state of the cryptocurrency industry, particularly the increasing popularity of political tokens.

“They are not just sources of fun, whose harm is at most contained to mistakes made by voluntary participants; they are vehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation states,” the cryptocurrency mogul said.

There is perhaps an analogy with weed here.

Ten years ago, to many weed represented freedom, and rebellion against sclerotic old order that denied self-sovereignty over our bodies. Then, weed became legalized, and "official".

On that day, I remember my personal interest in weed…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) January 23, 2025

Buterin understood this as a “new order,” in which the powerful celebrate the idea that anyone can create tokens for anything, at any scale.

He believed that this could be a reaction to the old order, in which former SEC Chair Gary Gensler established a regime that penalized assets with clear investor rights and transparent revenue streams while rewarding “obfuscated” assets.

“Everything that happened in crypto was in part a response, part compliance, part rebellion, to these pressures,” Buterin noted.

See Also: Cathie Wood Was Asked If She Would Buy TRUMP Coin, Here’s What She Said

Why It Matters: While he didn’t directly name any project, Buterin’s comments come in the wake of meme coins drop by President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump last week.

The Solana SOL/USD-based coins, named Official Trump (TRUMP) and Official Melania (MELANIA), have accumulated tens of billions in combined market valuation, with speculations that the first couple may benefit directly from the gains.

Anthony Scaramucci, former White House Communications Director, criticized Trump’s meme coin launch, labeling it “Idi Amin-level corruption.”

Buterin has previously criticized celebrity memecoins, stating that such projects just benefit celebrities and early adopters.

Price Action: At the time of writing, TRUMP was exchanging hands at $33.09, crashing 11.43% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.MELANIA traded at $2.62, down 22% over 24 hours.

Photo by Alexey Smyshlyaev on Shutterstock.

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