California governor Gavin Newsom said he plans to release a meme token called “Trump Corruption Coin”, his latest public jab at President Donald Trump. Newsom announced the plan on the Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway podcast, framing the stunt as a political rebuttal and a test of how a rival meme coin might perform against Mr. Trump’s own token.
Newsom said the new token will be a direct poke at Trump and suggested it could outperform the Solana-based coin the president introduced in January, known as Official Trump (TRUMP). The governor has been actively mocking Trump on X, echoing the former president’s style and catchphrases to make political points.
For context, TRUMP briefly surged after its January debut and remains notable in the market — ranked roughly 77th by market cap at nearly $1.7 billion. It was trading around $8.42 at recent checks, far below its all-time high near $73.43. Meme coins like these are highly speculative: they can spike quickly and fall just as fast.
Separately, a Trump-backed crypto project — WLFI, the governance token for Ethereum-based World Liberty Financial — recently listed on major exchanges and posted a post-listing valuation above $26 billion. Reports say the Trump family controls a sizable share of WLFI tokens, valued at close to $6 billion.
Why this matters: the episode highlights how political theater and crypto markets increasingly overlap — from headline-grabbing token launches to concerns about conflicts of interest and market manipulation. Readers should remember that meme coins are volatile and speculative; any token tied to public figures can carry added reputational and regulatory risk.
Source: Decrypt. Read the original coverage for full details.