Mark Cuban may be among Dogecoin’s most notable fans, but the Shark Tank star wasn’t too impressed by the launch of President Donald Trump’s meme coin this weekend.
In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Cuban pushed back against the notion that Trump’s official meme coin (TRUMP) is a long-term positive for the digital assets space, arguing the industry will now struggle to legitimize itself following the meme coin’s rocky debut.
Among U.S. lawmakers, crypto-friendly politicians have called for regulation to provide the industry with clearer rules of the road. Bills, such as the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act, or FIT21, would likely provide a pathway for digital assets to become certified with regulatory authorities if passed.
FIT21, passed in the House in May of last year but still on hold in the Senate, aims to more clearly define digital assets in law and place them under the purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
If signed into law, the bill could help clarify the legal grey area in which much of crypto exists while dispelling a cloud of uncertainty advocates have said is one of the most significant barriers to financial institutions becoming increasingly involved.
While Trump is expected to sign a bevy of executive orders that might, in practice, accomplish the same goals, signed legislation—unlike executive orders—can’t be bulldozed by the next commander-in-chief.
In order for digital assets regulation to be passed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, bipartisan support will likely be needed. Republicans currently have a one-seat majority in the House, while they need seven Democratic votes to pass most bills in the Senate.
Rather than encouraging lawmakers to modify existing securities laws to become more accommodating of crypto projects that offer tokens to U.S. buyers, Trump’s meme coin set the standard that investors don’t need “some understanding of what they are buying,” Cuban wrote.
“Gary Gensler has got to be laughing his ass off,” he added, referring to the SEC’s now-departed chair and crypto villain. “Any registration requirements just flew out the window.”
Trump’s meme coin was launched with 80% of its supply withheld by CIC Digital LLC, the same company that facilitated the sale of Trump’s official NFTs and other merchandise, and Fight Fight Fight LLC.
Those tokens will unlock over the next three years, while the companies behind TRUMP derive revenue from the token’s associated trading fees.
“This launch is going to make everything that the U.S. does from this point forward look like self-dealing,” Eli Cohen, general counsel at Centrifuge, a decentralized finance platform, told Decrypt. “There’s obviously a clear conflict: Will regulators think we’re doing this to help Trump and his meme coins, or will they look at what the real legislation is?”
When it comes to Dogecoin, Cuban posited in 2021 that the meme coin had gone “legit,” growing beyond its roots as simply a joke.
Months ago, he stood by his love for the canine crypto while acknowledging that most meme coins are a high-stake game of musical chairs.
“One started off selling for less than a penny as a fun project and grew into a community,” Cuban told Decrypt. “[TRUMP] ain’t less than a penny. Who is going to build the community?”
As one of the fastest-growing tokens in crypto, TRUMP’s price hit an all-time high of $73 on Sunday, only to fall fast once First Lady Melania Trump launched a meme coin of her own. As of writing, TRUMP’s price has fallen 40% over the past day to $40.
“Elected officials must be barred from having meme coins by law,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) wrote on X Sunday, adding they should be regulated by the SEC like gambling.
Dogecoin’s status as a $53 billion meme coin took years to manifest. But as the years have gone by, plenty of projects have sought to replicate the playbook—trading on vibes instead of fundamentals—now including those backed by the president.
“Obviously, the rules around them are a bit different in terms of lockups and how much has been allocated to the market and how much has been allocated to the insiders,” Cohen said of TRUMP and Dogecoin. “But other than that, I don’t think they’re any different.”
Edited by Sebastian Sinclair
Editor’s note: Adds response from Cuban to Decrypt
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