Donald Trump Jr's reply to controversial question: 'Is that OK for your dad to have a meme coin?'
Donald Trump Jr comments on his father's memecoin $TRUMP.
Donald Trump Jr was grilled on CNBC as he was asked about his opinion on his father President Donald Trump having a memecoin ($TRUMP) in his name. Memecoins have no value and no expectation of financial return, though they are considered as cryptocurrency.
The memecoin, according to one recent estimate, has generated more than $320 million for the president and business entities connected to him. "Is that OK -- for your dad to have a meme coin?" Donald Trump Jr was asked.
The president's son said the memecoin was launched before Trump's second term began. Defending his family's crypto business, Don Jr said it started out of necessity when the Trump family was de-banked.
'There was a time … I could call any single banker in New York City, they'd pick up the phone, I'd be able to get a loan for whatever real estate project I was doing across the street,' he said. 'Then we got into politics, and all of a sudden, they wouldn't take your call. You couldn't get financing. We were de-banked. And what I realized, and my brother realized — because we were the recipients of every subpoena imaginable — was that… we were actually just the top of this sort of pyramid scheme that we didn't realize we were a part of.
That the financial system was totally un-democratized.'
'So we got into crypto not because it was like, 'Hey, this is the next cool thing.' We got into it out of necessity," Donald Trump Jr said.
The interview turned combative with one of the hosts exclaiming that the memcoin situation is "as bad as Hunter's art". When Joe Biden was the president, Hunter Biden;s paintings were sold for upwards of $500,000.
Don Jr said he is not involved in the meme coin business and he's more focused on bitcoin.
'No, I'm just saying for the reality of the meme coin is it's sort of a proof of concept that the crypto world understands…that the markets may not necessarily be fair,' Trump Jr said. "The traditional banking system may not be fair to them. So it's a proof-of-concept of what I think we can move the needle in crypto. And I think that's going to be the future of finance."
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