Two U.S. senators are calling on the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate President Donald Trump's official meme coin, arguing the project may have defrauded nearly a million investors. In a letter sent to SEC Chair Paul Atkins this week, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Blumenthal laid out evidence of what they call a possible 'soft rug pull' — a scheme where insiders cash out while retail holders get crushed.
The numbers behind the token
The TRUMP token launched in January 2025 and briefly traded above $70, making it a top-20 crypto asset and the second-largest meme coin by market cap. It's now worth less than $1.50. Between launch and the end of June 2026, investors collectively lost over $3.8 billion on the token, according to the senators' letter. Over the same period, Trump and his family reportedly earned around $636 million through trading fees and other revenue streams tied to the project. The asymmetry is stark: a 98% price drop for buyers, a nine-figure payday for the insiders.
Insider trading allegations
The letter also flags concerns that some traders profited from the token's launch before the general public could react — a potential insider trading violation. The senators argue the project's structure and marketing warrant a formal SEC probe, pointing to previous enforcement actions against similar crypto schemes. They also cite recent warnings from state regulators, including New York's, about pump-and-dump and rug-pull risks in the meme coin niche. The team behind the token has been linked to numerous sales as the price tumbled, though no specific names are named in the letter.
What happens next
The SEC has not yet responded to the letter. Chair Atkins, appointed by Trump, now faces a politically charged decision: open an investigation into a project closely tied to the president, or decline. The token has fallen out of the top 100 altcoins by market cap — a far cry from its days as a top-20 asset. For the roughly 900,000 investors still holding, the question is whether any regulatory action can recover a fraction of the $3.8 billion that's already gone.
