Melania Meme price on ape.pro website is displayed on a mobile phone with official melaniameme.com website in the background for illustration photo.
Incoming first lady Melania Trump launched her own meme coin ahead of her husband’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States on Monday.
In a Sunday evening post on the X social media platform, she announced that investors “can buy $MELANIA now.”
The Melania token was trading at $11.16 at 10:48 a.m. London time on Monday, up more than 50%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. It has a market cap of $2.15 billion.
Incoming President Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated for the second time on Monday, also launched his own meme coin — a cryptocurrency that takes inspiration from online communities and internet memes — on Friday via the Solana Blockchain network. On Monday, the “Official Trump” coin was down 20% to trade at $53.74 at 10:53 a.m. London time, according to CoinMarketCap.
Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency was the largest meme coin on the Solana network by market cap at 10:35 a.m. London time, according to data from CoinGecko, with Melania Trump’s token in fourth place at the time.
In a disclaimer on the meme coin’s official website, potential buyers are told that Melania memes “are digital collectibles intended to function as an expression of support for and engagement with the values embodied by the symbol MELANIA. and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.”
On the Trump token’s website, the cryptocurrency — depicted with an image of Trump raising his fist in the air — is marketed as “a piece of history,” while Trump himself is branded “the crypto president.”
Trump, who has publicly taken a pro-cryptocurrency stance in the past and is reportedly planning to release an executive order making the digital assets a national priority, has promised to release 1 billion “Official Trump” tokens in the coming three years. At least 200 million of this volume of coins entered circulation on the token’s initial release.
Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at Conotoxia, said in emailed comments on Monday that investors should exercise caution when buying assets like the Trumps’ cryptocurrencies.
“Meme cryptocurrencies like these are prone to large fluctuations and we generally consider them as speculative assets,” he said. “The tokens released by Donald and Melania Trump appear to symbolize support for the digital currency sector. However, the introduction of these coins during the presidential inauguration raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.”
Representatives for Donald and Melania Trump were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Cryptocurrencies overall can be volatile. Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable digital coin, has been known to rise or fall by thousands of dollars in a single day. Alternative coins, or “altcoins,” like ether and XRP have proven even more more prone to fluctuations.
Tokens can be spun up by anyone with an internet connection. In 2021, a token based on the hit show “Squid Game” rallied wildly off the back of hype surrounding the series — only to then lose virtually all of its value, costing some investors tens of thousands of dollars.
Following the Sunday launch of the “Melania” token, the president-elect’s “Official Trump” coin briefly crashed as much as 40%, according to analysts at The Kobeissi Letter in a Sunday post on X.
— CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed to this report.
