The cryptocurrency world was shaken this weekend as Donald Trump’s “official” memecoin debuted ahead of his inauguration ceremony, briefly seeing a huge surge in value before a dramatic collapse. On January 20 (late Sunday US time), Melania Trump, the incoming First Lady, introduced her own meme coin, $MELANIA, which led to a sudden 50% drop in the value of her husband’s $TRUMP meme coin.
Melania Trump Launches Her Own Meme Coin
Melania announced the launch of $MELANIA on her social media accounts just before Trump’s victory rally in Washington, stating, “The official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.” The new token quickly gained traction, with its price rising above $5 and its market capitalization reaching over $5 billion, according to Forbes. Melania herself encouraged traders to buy the coin on X (formerly Twitter).
Trump’s Coin Plummets as $MELANIA Coin Gains Momentum
Trump’s coin made a massive splash upon release, briefly hitting a market value of $14 billion, placing it among the top 20 cryptocurrencies. However, the excitement was short-lived.
The introduction of Melania’s coin had an immediate effect on Trump’s token. Within minutes of the announcement, $TRUMP saw a sharp drop of nearly 40% in value as traders quickly shifted their investments to $MELANIA. Analysts noted that Trump’s coin lost $7.5 billion in market value in just 10 minutes after Melania’s coin launch.
The Kobeissi Letter analysts took to X to comment, “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.”
David Sacks, a crypto advisor appointed by Trump, recently announced that the “reign of terror” against cryptocurrency is over, signaling a new era of innovation for crypto in the US.