Former Coinbase CTO Slams Trump Meme Coin Frenzy: “It’s a Zero-Sum Game”

The Trump-themed meme coin hype may be lighting up the charts—but not everyone’s buying into the excitement.

Balaji Srinivasan, former Coinbase CTO and longtime crypto thinker, has stepped in with a stark warning: this isn’t innovation—it’s gambling.

Balaji’s Take: Meme Coins Are “Zero-Sum Lotteries”

In a tweet that’s getting a lot of traction, Balaji didn’t hold back. He called meme coins “zero-sum lotteries” where for every winner, there’s someone left holding the bag.

“Every buy has a matching sell,” he said. “And when it all crashes? The latecomers usually lose everything.”

He even suggested meme coins could be negative-sum if the platforms themselves are skimming off the top. Ouch.

Balaji did admit that some meme coins manage to hang on—those that build real communities or create a use case. But overall, his message was clear: be careful, especially when politics and hype are the main drivers.

“I’d go further and say a lot of the top 100 tokens are basically ghostchains or meme coins in disguise,” he tweeted. “Rapid price jumps in a political environment? That’s a recipe for chaos.”

MELANIA Launch Backfires

Balaji’s warning comes at a pretty wild time. Donald and Melania Trump have both launched meme coins just days before Trump’s inauguration—and things are already unraveling.

Shortly after MELANIA hit the market, the original TRUMP coin tanked with double-digit losses. And the backlash was swift.

Edward Dowd, founder of Phinance Technologies, called the timing a “massive unforced error,” right before a historic presidency. Meanwhile, Jim Bianco of Bianco Research said the move spooked investors—many feared more tokens could follow, diluting confidence and value.

And then there was José Maria Macedo of Delphi Labs, who pulled no punches. He claimed insiders got greedy, underestimated TRUMP’s potential, and tried to cash in again with MELANIA.

The result? “They nuked $30 billion in value,” he said. “They damaged public trust—and maybe even invited legal trouble.”

The Bottom Line

The Trump coin saga might still be unfolding, but one thing’s clear: not all hype is good hype. And when seasoned voices like Balaji are urging caution, it might be time for retail investors to think twice before diving headfirst into the meme coin chaos.