Trump’s Meme Coin Immediately Crashes After Melania’s Cryptocurrency Launch
Incoming first lady Melania Trump has joined her husband in the crypto game, launching her own “meme coin” over the weekend.
But just hours after the new digital currency went live Sunday, her husband’s suffered a precipitous crash of more than 40 percent, according to Forbes—leading many to connect Melania’s new project to the decline of her husband’s.
Announcing the news on X Sunday evening, Melania posted a black-and-white photo of herself smiling with her hands clasped together and wrote, “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.”
Within hours, the price of the digital asset jumped to more than $12—with an accompanying market cap of more than $12 billion, according to cryptocurrency tracker DEX Screener.
Like her husband President-elect Donald Trump’s meme coin, $TRUMP, Melania’s coin is a type of cryptocurrency that obtains value as more people invest.
The Official Melania Meme is live!
You can buy $MELANIA now. https://t.co/8FXvlMBhVf
FUAfBo2jgks6gB4Z4LfZkqSZgzNucisEHqnNebaRxM1P pic.twitter.com/t2vYiahRn6— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 19, 2025
Trump revealed his new coin on X Friday, inviting his supporters to join his “very special Trump Community” and “celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!”
As explained on the coin’s official website, Trump’s meme coins are “intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’ and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”
Over the weekend, Trump’s $TRUMP swiftly became the second-largest meme coin by market cap—second only to his bestie Elon Musk’s beloved Dogecoin. Within the first hours of Melania’s meme coin launch, however, Trump’s market cap plummeted by more than $7.5 billion, according to Forbes.
My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to https://t.co/GX3ZxT5xyq — Have Fun! pic.twitter.com/flIKYyfBrC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2025
Despite claiming that he has “not been a big fan” of crypto and that its investments were “potentially a disaster waiting to happen” in a 2021 interview on Varney & Co., Trump seems to have done a 180 on his attitude toward crypto four years later.
Along with launching his own meme coin, the president-elect has also named David Sacks as his crypto and artificial intelligence czar, planting the seeds for a new era for crypto in the country.
“The reign of terror against crypto is over,” Sacks says in a video posted by Eric Trump on X Saturday. “And the beginning of innovation in America for crypto has just begun.”