Donald Trump begins Inauguration Day at St. John’s Church
Donald Trump started his Inauguration Day events at St. John’s Church.
President Donald Trump‘s return to office could be inaugurating a new landscape in cryptocurrency. Just two days after launching the new $TRUMP cryptocurrency meme coin, there’s now an offering in the name of incoming first lady Melania Trump, too.
The Melania Trump meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency, hit the market Sunday night about 6 p.m. on the eve of Trump’s inauguration. The returning first lady announced the offering’s arrival in a post on X, the social media network formerly known as Twitter, saying “You can buy $MELANIA now.”
After initially launching at about $7, the $MELANIA coin was valued at about $9 on Monday morning with a market cap of $1.65 billion, according to CoinMarketCap tracking site. That’s not quite as successful of a launch as the $TRUMP coin, which has risen to about $50 and has a market cap of about $10 billion.
Some likely got a windfall when they got in early on $TRUMP coin at 18 cents. But investors should be wary of the volatility of cryptocurrencies.
“As has been the case with other startup crypto currencies, one might anticipate there to be some considerable risk,” David Reibstein, professor of marketing at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told USA TODAY, speaking about the launch of the $TRUMP coin.
“That is not to say there could easily be an upside,” Reibstein said. “Note the volatility of Trump Media which quickly rose to close to $100 and then shortly thereafter fell to under $13 and now is back up to near $40. It is an investment for the brave.”
How much is the new Melania Trump meme coin?
As of 8 a.m. Monday, the Melania coin was trading at about $9, according to CoinMarketCap. When trading started Sunday night, the coin’s value was $7.41, the site said.
The Melania meme coin, like the Trump coin, is issued on the Solana blockchain platform. About 450,000 buyers currently hold the Melania coin, according to the SolScan tracker, which tracks the Solana-related crypto tokens.
The debut of the Melania coin on Sunday led to a “sharp dip in the price of” the Trump coin “prompting concerns from crypto industry executives who worry that meme coins could harm the market,” reported Forbes’ Siladitya Ray.
The Trump launches are “now clearly a blight that we will have to work to put behind us as builders,” Rob Hadick, a general partner at crypto-focused venture-capital company Dragonfly Capital told Bloomberg.
Donald Trump’s new $TRUMP cryptocurrency meme coin
Just days before his second inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump issued a cryptocurrency meme coin memorializing his response to the July 2024 assassination attempt.
The new $TRUMP meme coin – a type of cryptocurrency – launched Friday night with posts on Trump’s Truth Social social media platform and on X, the social network previously known as Twitter. According to the coin’s website, gettrumpmemes.com, there are 200 million $TRUMP coins available now, with plans to have 1 billion over the next three years.
The site deems Trump as “the crypto president,” and the coin portrays the President-elect with “his fist in the air and the iconic battle cry FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT,” Trump called out after the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
What is a meme coin?
Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency usually inspired by internet memes, often a pop culture image or trend. A well-known meme starred the Japanese dog Kabosu that became a popular meme online in the early 2010s.
Then in 2013, Kabosu became the face of Dogecoin, which became one of the most popular “meme stocks” during the COVID-19 pandemic retail trading boom. Elon Musk famously changed the logo of Twitter to the Dogecoin logo in April 2023, CNBC previously reported.
Trump has named Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to co-lead the new Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.).
How much is the new Trump meme coin?
On Saturday at 1 p.m. ET, the Trump coin was trading at about $31, according to crypto exchange GeckoTerminal. When trading started, the coin’s value was 18 cents, the site said.
Trump coin had a fully diluted valuation of about $31.37 billion and a market cap of more than $6.27 billion, as of noon Saturday.
“‘Trump Coin’ has taken the cryptocurrency world by storm, potentially positioning itself to challenge Dogecoin’s supremacy in the meme coin ecosystem,” wrote London-based fintech analyst Boaz Sobrado on Forbes.com.
“The stunning launch of $TRUMP caught the entire industry off-guard, and speaks to both (Trump’s) personal influence and the ascendancy of cryptocurrency in his administration,” wrote Axios’ reporters Ben Berkowitz and Brady Dale.
Trump’s cryptocurrency move, they said, swiftly appeared to make more than $25 billion on paper for himself and his companies.”
According to the coin’s website, CIC Digital LLC, which is an affiliate of The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, which is co-owned by CIC Digital, collectively own 80% of the coins. The coins are subject to a 3-year unlocking schedule, which means those holdings cannot be dumped all at once, Axios reported.
When the Trump coin announcement hit social media, there were “serious questions about the legitimacy” of the cryptocurrency, reported the Crypto Briefing news site. But the new project is likely the work of those who helped on Trump’s “America First Collection” of digital trading cards, the site reported.
Investors should remember that cryptocurrencies can be volatile. Those who buy the new coin must agree to terms and conditions including agreeing not to bring future class action lawsuits, a move to help reduce the financial risk of the company and issuers, Newsweek reported.