US President-elect Donald Trump launched a new cryptocurrency token on January 17 ahead of his swearing-in on January 20, which is rapidly rising in price and possibly adding to his wealth. This is the latest promotion from Trump, who has previously promoted branded Bibles, gold sneakers and diamond-studded watches. However, on January 20 (late Sunday US time), Donald Trump's wife and soon-to-be First Lady, Melania Trump, launched her meme coin and thus, Trump's official meme coin $TRUMP has plummeted nearly 40 per cent.
Take to X (formerly known as Twitter), Melania officially announced the launch of her meme coin. She wrote, “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now." Melania also shared a link to a website selling the cryptocurrency.
Trump promoted the new token in a social post late Friday, saying, "It's time to celebrate all our values: victory! Join my very special Trump community." The cryptocurrency token is marketed with a picture of Trump raising his fist and the words "Fight Fight Fight", which shows Trump's combative attitude in response to an assassination attempt at an election rally in July.
While promoting the meme coin, Trump told supporters, “Have fun!”. The website selling the tokens says they are meant as an endorsement and not an investment opportunity. That didn’t stop people from making money. The Trump meme coin started selling at $10 per token and had reached nearly $70 by Sunday morning.
But the announcement of Melania Trump's cryptocurrency, $MELANIA, only hours before Trump took the oath, caused the value of Trump's coin to plummet.
Melania's meme coin surged in value to over $7.41 as people flocked to purchase it, giving it a completely diluted market capitalization of nearly $5 billion. The Solana network serves as the foundation for both Melania's and Trump's currencies.
Melania's meme coin is currently trading at $7.41, while Trump's meme coin, which started at $0.18, has grown dramatically to $44.08, according to CoinMarketCap.
According to the cryptocurrency's official website, CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight, a company that CIC Digital also owns, hold 80% of Trump's meme coin.