Amid Trump, Melania token craze, Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin warns of ‘unlimited political bribery’ via memecoins

Vitalik Buterinco-founder ethereum ETH/USDExpressed concerns about the rise of political meme coins on Thursday, warning that they could become “vehicles of unlimited political bribery.”

What happenedIn X’s post, Boren criticized the current state of the cryptocurrency industry, especially the growing popularity of political tokens.

“They are not merely sources of fun, whose harm is at most based on mistakes made by voluntary participants; they are vehicles for unlimited political bribery, including from foreign nation-states.”

Boren understood this as a “new arrangement,” where strongmen celebrate the idea that anyone can create tokens for anything, at any scale.

He thought this could be a reaction to the old system, where the former SEC chair Gary Gensler It created a system that punishes assets with clear investor rights and transparent revenue streams while rewarding “problematic” assets.

“Everything that happened at Crypto was part response, part compliance, part rebellion, to these pressures,” Boren noted.

See also: Cathie Wood was asked if she would buy Trump coins, here’s what she said

Why does it matter?While he did not directly name any project, Boren’s comments come on the heels of the president dropping coins Donald Trump And the first lady Melania Trump Last week.

the Solana SOL/USDList-based currencies, labeled Official Trump (Trump) and Official Melania (Melania), has accumulated tens of billions in joint market valuation, with speculation that the first couple may benefit directly from the gains.

Anthony Scaramucci, The former White House communications director criticized Trump’s meme coin launch, calling it “I-Amin-level corruption.”

Boren has previously criticized celebrity memecoins, saying such projects only benefit celebrities and early adopters.

Price action: At the time of writing, Trump is exchanging hands at $33.09, down 11.43% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinmarketCap.melania trading at $2.62, down 22% over 24 hours.

Photo by Alexei Smyshlev on Shutterstock.

Read next: