White House crypto czar David Sacks has likened US President Donald Trump’s memecoin to a collectible, claiming that the controversial token doesn’t represent a conflict of interest for the new administration.
Appearing on Fox News on Jan. 23, Sacks said digital assets come in many forms — some are securities, while others are collectibles like non-fungible tokens (NFTs) or memecoins.
“I think the Trump coin is a collectible […] It’s like a baseball card or a stamp,” Sacks said. “People buy it because they want to commemorate something,” he said.
Sacks, who was appointed White House Crypto and AI and Czar on Dec. 6, said the confusion around Trump’s memecoin stems from the poor regulatory guidance of the previous administration.
“For the last four years, the Biden administration has basically prosecuted and persecuted crypto companies, really driving them offshore,” Sacks said, adding:
“The Biden administration would not tell them what the rules of the road were, and they would then get prosecuted. The industry wants, more than anything else, is regulatory clarity.”
David Sacks appearing on FOX Business on Jan. 23. Source: Fox Business/YouTube
Sacks was also asked about the status of the strategic Bitcoin (BTC) reserve, one of Trump’s biggest campaign promises.
“We’re evaluating this national stockpile for digital assets. We haven’t created it yet, but we’re going to study that issue,” he said.
As Cointelegraph reported, Trump signed his first cryptocurrency-focused executive order on Jan. 23, calling for an “internal working group to make America the world capital in crypto.”
Related: Trump’s first day in office ends with no mention of crypto
TRUMP coin the center of controversy
The Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin was launched on the Solana blockchain on Jan. 17, mere days before the president-elect’s inauguration. In the span of 48 hours, the coin pumped to a high of $73.43, bringing its total market capitalization north of $12 billion.
However, the value of TRUMP coin tanked after the president admitted he didn’t “know much about it.”
The losses have only intensified, with TRUMP now valued at around $33, according to CoinMarketCap.
The TRUMP memecoin has plunged by more than half from its all-time high. Source: CoinMarketCap
The memecoin has sparked controversy about President Trump profiting from its alleged pro-crypto platform.
According to James Thurber, founder of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, the Trump family’s memecoins represent “shameful and major conflicts of interest.”
Bitget Research analyst Ryan Lee told Cointelegraph that the memecoin drew new investors into the crypto space, many of whom don’t know how to properly evaluate cryptocurrencies as investments.
Related: Traders lose millions as memecoin downturn deepens
