Trump Explodes His Net Worth With New Meme Coins $TRUMP and $MELANIA

As the crypto industry celebrates the arrival of a new administration in Washington, D.C., nobody is taking quicker advantage of the coming changes than the person leading the charge: President Donald J. Trump.

Fresh off his electoral victory, former President Donald Trump wasted no time in cashing in on the crypto craze that was sweeping the nation.

On the evening of January 20, 2021, as crypto A-listers mingled with political elites and members of Trump's inner circle at the Crypto Ball, held at the opulent Mellon Auditorium, just down the street from the White House, Trump was quietly preparing to launch a meme coin of his own.

The coin, named $TRUMP, was launched later that night on the Solana platform. Its market cap quickly soared over the weekend, reaching $14 billion at one point.

As with other meme coins, there was no underlying product for $TRUMP. In a social media post announcing the coin, Trump wrote, "It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!"

According to the website for $TRUMP, 80% of the coins were being held by the Trump Organization and affiliates. Among the crypto exchange leaders present at the Crypto Ball were Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell, whose platforms allowed ordinary investors to buy into Trump's latest project.

After launching $TRUMP, Trump followed up on Sunday with the introduction of another meme coin, $MELANIA, named after the first lady.

The coin quickly spiked more than 40%, surpassing $2 billion in value. Both the Trump and Melania coins have since dropped significantly from their highs.

In addition to the meme coins, the Trump family also endorsed a decentralized finance project called World Liberty Financial, which hiked its token price from 1.5 cents to 5 cents and released an additional 5 billion tokens for sale.

The project, which was initially launched in September, has raised more than $300 million in total sales so far, according to blockchain firm Arkham Intelligence.

The Trump family is set to receive 75% of World Liberty's crypto coin revenue, as per the project's founding document.

On-chain data showed millions of dollars worth of token transfers to Coinbase’s institutional custody provider.

"We’re making routine movements of our crypto holdings as part of regular treasury management, payment of fees and expenses, and to address working capital requirements,” World Liberty said in a statement.

CNBC reached out to Donald and Melania Trump earlier Monday and didn't receive a response.