Melania Trump launches her own meme coin, briefly eclipsing Donald Trump's $TRUMP coin

The crypto world was rocked this weekend as Donald Trump's "official" meme coin made a grand debut ahead of his inauguration, briefly soaring in value before crashing spectacularly.

Donald Trump's meme coin saw a rapid rise before crashing 40 per cent after the launch of Melania Trump's $MELANIA coin, which surged to a $5 billion market cap.

The crypto world was rocked this weekend as Donald Trump’s "official" meme coin made a grand debut ahead of his inauguration, briefly soaring in value before crashing spectacularly.

Melania Trump just launched her own meme coin, $MELANIA, and it's making waves in the crypto world. The coin's introduction on January 20 caused a temporary 50 per cent drop in the value of her husband Donald Trump's $TRUMP meme coin, which had been trading at around $72 before plummeting to below $39.

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Melania Trump launches her own meme coin

“The official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now," Melania dropped the announcement across her social media handles right before Trump's DC victory rally. This new coin rapidly gained attention, with the price rising to over $5 and a market cap exceeding $5 billion, according to Forbes.

Melania made the announcement herself on X (formerly Twitter), encouraging traders to buy her coin.

Trump launches his cryptocurrency meme coin, price soars overnight

Trump’s coin crashes as $MELANIA coin gains ground

Melania’s coin's debut had an immediate impact on the value of Trump's meme coin. Within minutes of the announcement, Trump’s coin lost nearly 40% of its value, with many traders including those who earlier invested in Trump token quickly selling off their holdings to buy into the new $MELANIA coin.

The Kobeissi Letter analysts took to X to declare, “This is beyond insane. Less than 48 hours ago, Donald Trump launched $ Trump which just erased $7.5 billion in market cap in 10 minutes. In the minutes around the launch of Melania Trump's token, we saw massive sell orders in $ Trump."

Critics accuse Trump of cashing in on the presidency

Meanwhile, critics slammed Trump for introducing meme coins just days before he assumed office. “Trump owning 80 per cent and timing launch hours before the inauguration is predatory and many will likely get hurt by it,” Nick Tomaino, a crypto venture capitalist, said in a social media post.

Trump was previously skittish about cryptocurrency, but at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville last year he said America would be "the crypto capital of the plant" once he returned to Washington. His sons Erik and Donald Jr announced their crypto venture last year.

(With inputs from agencies)