Fake Meme Coins Named after U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Are in Full Swing

As "OFFICIAL TRUMP" and "Official Melania," official meme coins recognized by Trump, have become popular, a mock meme coin that imitates them has emerged

A large number of fake meme coins, named after former U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, are being released one after another, causing investors to be misled.

Thousands of new meme coins were released on the Solana network on the 20th (local time), the day of Trump's inauguration, and 61 of them were official Trump or Melania-related meme coins, Binance Square reported on the 22nd. There were 38 Trump-related meme coins and 23 Melania-related meme coins.

A total of $4.8 million was poured into these fake virtual currencies from 12,641 wallets in one day. Binance calculated only virtual currencies that clearly imitated the original, excluding satire or warnings.

However, there is a view that these statistics have been underestimated. "The number of fake meme coins using the name Trump has surged from an average of 3,300 per day to 6,800 on the 20th," said Blockade, a security company.

"These fake meme coins are an act of exploiting famous brands and deceiving investors by using enthusiasm for the original," said Alan Orwick, co-founder of blockchain company Quay Network. He added that it is similar to a rug pull method in which a developer releases a coin and then collects cash and disappears.

Official Trump, the official Trump meme coin that caused such controversy, ranked 14th in terms of market capitalization, with more than $75 on the 19th. However, it soon sank below $40 and remains 29th in market capitalization on the 23rd.

Meanwhile, Kathy Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, dubbed "Money Tree Sister" in Korea, was wary of meme coins themselves.

In an interview with Bloomberg on the 22nd (local time), CEO Wood said, "President Donald Trump is opening the next stage of the virtual asset revolution," but added, "At the moment, nothing is known about the usefulness of Trump coins except that they are meme coins related to President Trump."

"We are refraining from investing in meme coins," he said. "We are focusing on Bitcoin and the 'Big Three'." In addition to Bitcoin, Cashwood's virtual assets are Ethereum and Solana.