Days before his 2025 inauguration, President Donald Trump announced the launch of his meme coin, a form of cryptocurrency.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., recently said it could be used for illicit purposes.

A Democratic senator and a cryptocurrency expert said it’s possible for foreign oligarchs to contribute to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign through his meme coin, but legal experts said there’s no evidence of that.

“The U.S. President is running a backdoor bribery scheme in which any CEO or foreign oligarch can send him money secretly through his crypto coin scam in exchange for favors,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., posted April 9 on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

“They can’t contribute to Biden but they can buy Trump’s crypto coin and no one will bat an eye,” Murphy said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., also mentioned Trump’s meme coin during an April 9 CNN town hall.

“He makes money by selling coins, crypto coins, in which anybody can contribute,” Sanders said. “Now, you have a direct line to the president.” Foreigners are prohibited from donating to U.S. politicians.

Trump’s meme coin is one of the topics that have come up in conversations about the president’s potential conflicts of interest.

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told PolitiFact, “The President’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”

After Trump’s 2024 presidential win, The Washington Post reported that, unlike in 2017 when he sold off all his stock before taking office, Trump has not taken action to “avoid financially benefiting from being president.” He also owns a multibillion dollar stake in his social media company.

Cryptocurrency is a digital asset with monetary value that can be traded without using an intermediary, such as a bank. It is promoted as an alternative to traditional financial markets. Trump and his family have launched multiple cryptocurrency projects.

Cryptocurrency transactions are validated through blockchain technology, which functions as a ledger that runs on computer servers throughout the world. The nature of cryptocurrency allows anonymous investments, so anyone in the world can buy Trump’s cryptocurrency tokens while concealing their identity.

We reached out to Murphy’s office for comment. Spokesperson Deni Kamper referred PolitiFact to news articles about Trump’s meme coins and the potential for bribery and fraud.

Sanders’ press secretary Patrick Quesada also referred PolitiFact to reporting on the Trump family’s cryptocurrency ventures. “Purchasing or investing in these cryptocurrencies directly benefits the Trump family and Trump himself,” he said.

Frank Emmert, an Indiana University law professor who teaches blockchain and digital currency law, said, “The transactions can clearly facilitate donations that exceed the legal (campaign contribution) limits for U.S. citizens and U.S. corporations, and they can facilitate donations by foreigners.”

“I am not saying that that is happening. I’m just saying it could happen, right? And if it does happen, it should be traced, because these things are then illegal,” he said. Emmert said it is possible to trace cryptocurrency transactions and it’s typically been done by specialized Federal Bureau of Investigation units.

Richard Painter, a University of Minnesota corporate law professor who served as chief ethics lawyer for former President George W. Bush, said, “I would prefer that elected officials not be trading crypto.” He added, “It can be used to pay bribes or receive government payments from foreign governments.”

What are Trump’s cryptocurrency projects? How do they work?

Trump launched $Trump, a “meme coin” or a “digital asset based on a meme.” The Associated Press described meme coins as “a strange and highly volatile corner of the crypto industry that often start as a joke with no real value but can surge in price if enough people are willing to buy them,” citing dogecoin, a meme coin based on the Shiba Inu meme, as a high-profile example. The name of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, called DOGE for short and led by Elon Musk, is “a nod to Musk’s support” for dogecoin, CBS News reported.

Forbes, citing a blockchain consultancy, reported that “meme coins are 50 times more volatile than Bitcoin, and hotbeds for fraud.” The Security and Exchange Commission’s Division of Corporation Finance says meme coins “have limited or no use or functionality.”

After the $Trump launch, first lady Melania Trump also launched her own meme coin called $Melania. “Basically, these two are selling computer code for money,” Emmert said. “They can multiply this computer code like you can copy paste text in a message, so it costs them nothing.”

He said people would buy the Trump meme coins either for speculative purposes — with the belief that the price will go up and therefore generate profit — or to channel money to the president. Emmert said the volatile nature of meme coins means buyers get “no value in return.”

When Trump’s meme coin launched, its value increased from $7 to $75 in a day