From First Lady to Crypto Queen: Melania Token Sparks TRUMP’s 38% Drop
Melania Trump’s MKT World LLC launched the MELANIA token on January 19th. Within a mere two hours of its debut, according to DEXscreener, MELANIA amassed a market cap of $6.14 billion and attracted over 45,000 wallet holders.
Notably, this rapid adoption was fueled, in part, by Melania Trump’s social media promotion. The token’s website promotes its function as a tool for “engagement,” rather than a traditional investment vehicle.
Furthermore, the team received 35%, the treasury 20%, the community 20%, the public 15%, and liquidity 10% of the stated token allocation. However, Bubblemaps’ blockchain analytics show that nearly 90% of the token supply resides in a single wallet, a stark contrast to this allocation. This significant concentration raises serious concerns about the token’s transparency and potential for manipulation.
Melania Token Stops Trump’s Token
The cryptocurrency market witnessed a dramatic shift following the concurrent launches of two tokens bearing the names of prominent political figures: TRUMP and MELANIA. While both projects leveraged the considerable brand recognition of the Trump family, their trajectories have diverged sharply.
The TRUMP token, launched earlier by Fight Fight Fight LLC, initially experienced meteoric success, reaching a peak market capitalization of $74.59 billion. This surge reflected significant initial hype surrounding the token’s association with Donald Trump.
However, this rapid growth soon ended. The token’s value has since plummeted, falling to as low as $38 before stabilizing around $62.3, with a current market cap of $12.4 billion.
Further analysis highlights discrepancies in the perceived professionalism of the two projects. Coinbase executive Conor Grogan observed that experienced market makers appeared to have created $TRUMP, suggesting a higher level of sophistication in its initial development.
In contrast, MELANIA, with its reportedly less polished website and security vulnerabilities flagged by developer “cygaar” (including the absence of Cloudflare protection and poorly written front-end code), presents a markedly different image.
The Pump Flows With Today’s Presidential Inauguration
The timing of these launches, coinciding with Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on January 20th, has fueled speculation of a calculated strategy aligned with the Trump family’s political profile.
However, while the tokens have found favor among supporters, skepticism remains prevalent amongst critics, who question the underlying rationale and the ethical implications of such ventures.
Kevin McCordic, Director of Growth at Monad, aptly articulated this skepticism, questioning the strategic wisdom of launching a second token so closely after the first, especially given the market reaction to TRUMP’s significant value drop.
