Marketplace Tech With Molly Wood

President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has been seen by many as a boost for cryptocurrency. During the campaign, he made several crypto-friendly pledges and recently made a splash when he launched his own “meme coin” shortly before the inauguration.The Trump token reached a nearly a $15 billion valuation, though it has since fallen quite a bit. But it continues to provoke questions, like, is creating this investment vehicle a conflict of interest for a high-ranking official? And what the heck is a meme coin anyway?Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Axios reporter Brady Dale, author of the Axios Crypto newsletter, to get some answers.The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.Brady Dale: They’re a speculative instrument that, I sort of view them as a game. You know, there are these cryptocurrencies that capture an idea. So the most famous one is dogecoin — that funny dog that everyone sees all over the internet — and then, you know, these days there’s this blockchain ca