Donald Trump's Family Meme Coins Send Shockwaves Across The Crypto Market

The meme coin market witnessed a whirlwind of activity over the last weekend, fueled by the launch of $TRUMP. While it generated a bit of controversy

Barely a few days after Donald Trump’s controversial announcement of $TRUMP – a meme coin that suddenly exploded to $11 billion market cap threshold – his wife and incoming first lady of the United States Melania Trump has joined the trend, launching her own meme token called $MELANIA.

Marketed through her verified Twitter handle, Mrs Melania said the meme coin was developed as an “expression of support for and engagement with the values embodied by the symbol MELANIA.”

The Official Melania Meme is live!You can buy $MELANIA now.  https://t.co/8FXvlMBhVfFUAfBo2jgks6gB4Z4LfZkqSZgzNucisEHqnNebaRxM1P pic.twitter.com/t2vYiahRn6

A few hours after its launch, $MELANIA skyrocketed by an astounding 2000% to $11. This rapid increase pushed the market cap of the token above the $1 billion benchmark. 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump self-titled meme coin – TRUMP has suffered a crash, losing over $5 billion from its market cap. CoinGecko data also shows that the token’s price has fallen 30% from $74 to $50 within an hour.

Is it ideal to buy Trump Coin or Melania?

The meme coin market witnessed a whirlwind of activity over the last weekend, fueled by the launch of $TRUMP. While it generated a bit of controversy, with some even calling it a potential pump-and-dump scheme, the Solana meme coin quickly gained traction, surging by almost 11,000% to reach a staggering $14 billion in market valuation within a few days. 

However, the upward trajectory of $TRUMP was short-lived as the launch of $MELANIA – another Solana-based meme coin triggered an abrupt market shift. A few minutes after $MELANIA was announced, $TRUMP dumped and lost nearly 40% of its value as investors sold their holdings to jump on the new trend. 

DexScreener data indicates that not less than 45,000 wallets have purchased MELANIA, which has now been listed on major exchanges such as MEXC, BingX, Gate.io, and Bitget. Having captured significant attention, with many meme coin traders buying the coin in droves, $MELANIA quickly recorded a massive increase in price, outperforming major meme coins like DOGE, SHIB, WIF, BONK, and even TRUMP. 

However, despite the huge frenzy around $MELANIA, there are concerns that probably question the legitimacy of this new token. First, on the project website, it was claimed that 35% of the tokens have been distributed to the team and 15% offered to the public. 

Surprisingly, the token distribution on the website does not match the bubble map of $MELANIA. According to a top-tier blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps, nearly 90% of the token supply is in a single wallet, which raises concerns about potential market manipulation.

JUST IN: 🇺🇸 The bubble map of $MELANIA does NOT match the distribution on their website pic.twitter.com/Q734sd4ykJ

Moreover, the manner in which the project was announced on Melanie Trump’s X page also suggests a possible hack though no retraction or clarification has been made by her team yet. 

Is Trump Coin or Melania Worth Buying?

As Donald Trump takes office today as the 47th president of the United States, the crypto community awaits friendly regulations that could significantly drive the growth of the industry. 

Unsurprisingly, the wild excitement around his return to the White House triggered the massive interest seen with the two meme tokens linked to him and his darling wife. Take TRUMP for instance. The token drew billions in trading volume in just two days after its launch. 

Solana – which is the blockchain used for both projects – saw a significant uptick in activity. Amid skyrocketing trade volumes and interest in both tokens, the blockchain’s largest DEX Raydium captured $32.48 million in fees and $3.39 in revenue.

However, as earlier mentioned, $MELANIA has had an immediate effect on $TRUMP, tanking its price below $60 at press time. 

That being said, the launch approach of both meme coins raises ethical concerns that depict them more as rich-quick schemes. Famous personalities in the industry and Bitcoin advocates like Will Cole, Brandon Quittem, and Yat Siu have criticized both projects, describing them as potential rug pulls.

In fact, Yat Siu, in a recent post on X, called on Donald Trump to tread carefully with $TRUMP, highlighting how the launch approach of the project could have a ripple effect on the trust and reputation of the entire crypto industry.