President Donald Trump’s goodwill in the cryptocurrency industry has taken a hit after he and his wife launched meme coins — a move critics say looks like an unseemly cash grab that undermines an effort to legitimize digital assets.
The industry, which felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration and spent heavily to help Trump win, is eager for the new president’s help to make crypto a bigger part of mainstream financial systems. Trump has promised a lighter regulatory touch and picked pro-crypto officials for key government positions.
The price of bitcoin and other digital assets has soared since Trump won. A lavish “Crypto Ball” Friday ahead of Trump's inauguration sold tickets for thousands of dollars and featured a performance by the rapper Snoop Dogg.
But as that party was ongoing, Trump announced on social media he was offering his very own cryptocurrency in the form of a meme coin. The move dampened the mood for many in the crypto community.
"I really was kind of bummed out when I saw it,” said Tom Schmidt, a partner at a crypto venture capital firm Dragonfly. “It just felt very grifty and cheap.”
Some crypto fans even joked on social media they missed Gary Gensler, the recently departed chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission who was viewed as the Biden administration’s chief crypto antagonist thanks to the SEC's aggressive enforcement actions against crypto companies.
Meme coins are among the wilder and more unregulated corners of the crypto universe. They often start as a joke with no real value but can surge in price if enough people are willing to buy them. Popular meme coins include Dogecoin, whose mascot is a dog, and Fartcoin. Scammers have tried to pump up the price of certain meme coins before dumping them on unsavvy investors.
Some crypto enthusiasts hailed the Trump meme coin’s release and eager buyers drove up the price of the coin to above $70 each. The price fell dramatically on Sunday after First Lady Melania Trump announced the launch of her own meme coin, which also saw an initial price spike followed by a large fall. As of Tuesday afternoon, Trump’s meme coin was trading at about $45 while the Melania meme coin was at about $4.
Trump named SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda as the agency's acting chief Tuesday and Uyeda quickly announced he was launching a new crypto task force to set the SEC on a “sensible regulatory path.” Trump has promised to create a U.S. bitcoin stockpile and enact industry-friendly rules that make it easier for crypto companies to access the broader financial market.
But by associating himself so closely with meme coins, some crypto fans worry that Trump hurts his ability to enact reforms.
“Now, on the cusp of getting some liberalization of crypto regulations in this country, the main thing people are thinking about crypto is, “Oh, it’s just a casino for these meme coins,’” said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter and partner at the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures. “It does the opposite of validating us, it makes it look completely unserious.”
The sale of Trump meme coins was organized by CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization. In promoting the meme coin, Trump told supporters to “Have Fun!” The website selling the tokens says they are meant as expressions of support and not an investment opportunity. The coin’s website said 200 million Trump meme coins are currently available, with plans to issue 1 billion over the next three years.
The Trump family business recently released an ethics agreement that prohibits Trump from “day-to-day” decision making at the Trump Organization when he’s president and limits financial information about the business shared with him.
The president and first lady were not the only ones promoting new cryptocurrencies around the inauguration. Lorenzo Sewell, the Michigan pastor who gave a spirited inaugural invocation Monday, announced the launch of a new coin named after him, which he said would be used to benefit his church.
“I need you to do me a favor right now, I need to you to go buy the official Lorenzo Sewell coin,” Sewell said in a video post on social media.
FILE - Then Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at the Bitcoin 2024 Conference on July 27, 2024, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)
RHO, Italy (AP) — No ice is colder and harder than speedskating ice. The precision it takes has meant that Olympic speedskaters have never competed for gold on a temporary indoor rink – until the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games.
In the pursuit of maximum glide and minimum friction, Olympic officials brought on ice master Mark Messer, a veteran of six previous Olympic speedskating tracks and the ice technician in charge of the Olympic Oval in Calgary, Canada — one of the fastest tracks in the world with over 300 records.
Messer has been putting that experience to work one thin layer of ice at a time since the end of October at the new Speed Skating Stadium, built inside adjacent trade fair halls in the city of Rho just north of Milan.
“It’s one of the biggest challenges I’ve had in icemaking,’’ Messer said during an interview less than two weeks into the process.
If Goldilocks were a speedskater, hockey ice would be medium hard, for fast puck movement and sharp turns. Figure skating ice would be softer, allowing push off for jumps and so the ice doesn’t shatter on landing. Curling ice is the softest and warmest of all, for controlled sliding.
For speedskating ice to be just right, it must be hard, cold and clean. And very, very smooth.
“The blades are so sharp, that if there is some dirt, the blade will lose the edge,’’ Messer said, and the skater will lose speed.
Speedskater Enrico Fabris, who won two Olympic golds in Turin in 2006, has traded in his skates to be deputy sports manager at the speedskating venue in Rho. For him, perfect ice means the conditions are the same for all skaters — and then if it's fast ice, so much the better.
"It's more of a pleasure to skate on this ice,'' he said.
Messer’s first Olympics were in Calgary in 1988 — the first time speedskating was held indoors. “That gave us some advantages because we didn’t have to worry about the weather, wind blowing or rain,’’ he said. Now he is upping the challenge by becoming the first ice master to build a temporary rink for the Olympics.
Before Messer arrived in Italy, workers spent weeks setting up insulation to level the floor and then a network of pipes and rubber tubes that carry glycol — an antifreeze — that is brought down to minus 7 or minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 to 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the ice.
Water is run through a purification system — but it can’t be too pure, or the ice that forms will be too brittle. Just the right amount of impurities “holds the ice together,’’ Messer said.
The first layers of water are applied slowly, with a spray nozzle; after the ice reaches a few centimeters it is painted white — a full day’s work — and the stripes are added to make lanes.
“The first one takes about 45 minutes. And then as soon as it freezes, we go back and do it again, and again and again. So we do it hundreds of times,’’ Messer said.
As the ice gets thicker, and is more stable, workers apply subsequent layers of water with hoses. Messer attaches his hose to hockey sticks for easier spreading.
What must absolutely be avoided is dirt, dust or frost — all of which can cause friction for the skaters, slowing them down. The goal is that when the skaters push “they can go as far as possible with the least amount of effort,’’ Messer said.
The Zamboni ice resurfacing machine plays a key role in keeping the track clean, cutting off a layer and spraying water to make a new surface.
One challenge is gauging how quickly the water from the resurfacing machine freezes in the temporary rink.
Another is getting the ice to the right thickness so that the Zamboni, weighing in at six tons, doesn’t shift the insulation, rubber tubing or ice itself.
“When you drive that out, if there’s anything moving it will move. We don’t want that,’’ Messer said.
The rink got its first big test on Nov. 29-30 during a Junior World Cup event. In a permanent rink, test events are usually held a year before the Olympics, leaving more time for adjustments. “We have a very small window to learn,’’ Messer acknowledged.
Dutch speedskater Kayo Vos, who won the men’s neo-senior 1,000 meters, said the ice was a little soft — but Messer didn’t seem too concerned.
“We went very modest to start, now we can start to change the temperatures and try to make it faster and still maintain it as a safe ice,’’ he said.
Fine-tuning the air temperature and humidity and ice temperature must be done methodically — taking into account that there will be 6,000 spectators in the venue for each event. The next real test will be on Jan. 31, when the Olympians take to the ice for their first training session.
“Eighty percent of the work is done but the hardest part is the last 20 percent, where we have to try to find the values and the way of running the equipment so all the skaters get the same conditions and all the skaters get the best conditions,’’ Messer said.
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Serpentines are set on the ice of the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Workers clean the ice surface during a peed skating Junior World Cup and Olympic test event, in Rho, near Milan, Italy, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
Ice Master Mark Messer poses in the stadium where speed skating discipline of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics will take place, in Rho, outskirt of Milan, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)
