On Sunday, January 19, 2025, Melania Trump, the incoming First Lady, made waves in the cryptocurrency market with the announcement of her new meme coin, the "Official Melania Meme" or $MELANIA. Launched on the Solana blockchain platform, the token immediately attracted significant attention, with a dramatic market response. This development came just two days after the launch of a similar meme coin by her husband, President-elect Donald Trump, which saw a considerable price drop.
By Monday morning, the $MELANIA token was trading at approximately $11.22, with a market capitalization of $2.15 billion, placing it among the top 60 most valuable cryptocurrencies worldwide. The meme coin was launched under MKT World, a firm founded by Melania Trump in 2021. While details about the coin remain limited, its official website clarified that the tokens are digital collectibles designed to support the values associated with the Melania brand. Importantly, the website emphasized that $MELANIA is not an investment or security. Thirty-five percent of the token's total supply is reserved, with these coins initially locked for 30 days before being unlocked.
The launch of $MELANIA caused an immediate ripple effect in the market, notably impacting the value of $TRUMP, the meme coin launched by Donald Trump on January 17, 2025. Following the announcement of Melania's coin, $TRUMP saw a nearly 40% drop, falling from $75 to around $35. The market cap of $TRUMP had surged to $15 billion before the decline, but the release of $MELANIA brought it down to below $8 billion. However, $TRUMP partially recovered after Robinhood announced that the token was now available for trading on its platform. By early Monday morning, the price of $TRUMP had rebounded to $53.12, with a market capitalization of approximately $10.62 billion, making it one of the 18 most valuable cryptocurrencies worldwide.
Initially, $TRUMP gained momentum thanks to a post from Donald Trump on Truth Social, in which he hailed the coin as a winning venture. The token experienced an immediate price jump due to the curiosity surrounding its release. At launch, $TRUMP had 200 million tokens in circulation, with the total supply set to increase gradually to 1 billion tokens over the next three years. The remaining 800 million tokens are held by entities affiliated with the Trump family, namely CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC.
Melania Trump's $MELANIA coin, despite a quieter launch, gained substantial traction quickly. As of Monday, Solscan reported that 450,653 crypto wallets contained $MELANIA, reflecting the growing interest in the token. Both $MELANIA and $TRUMP contributed to a surge of public hype and market frenzy within the cryptocurrency space.
However, crypto executives have expressed concern about the potential harm these speculative assets may cause to the larger market. Meme coins like $MELANIA and $TRUMP are characterized by extreme price volatility and are considered risky investments by many. The long-term implications of these tokens remain uncertain, but the sustained interest in both coins demonstrates the power of political figures to influence and shape the cryptocurrency landscape.
