Karsten Wenzlaff, Advisor
August 26th, 2025
Karsten Wenzlaff is a Crowdfunding and Fintech Expert from Germany. He is Secretary-General of Digit[...]
Trump’s Launch Meme Coins Sparking Crypto Frenzy
Trump and Crypto | Jan 20, 2025
Image from Official Trump Meme website
Trump's Launch Meme Coins $TRUMP and $MELANIA
Just days before President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration, on January 17, 2025 Donald and Melania Trump launched their own meme coins, $TRUMP and $MELANIA based on their global brand power. Markets reacted with debate and excitement as investors pounce to capitalize on their popularity while critics question the ethical implications.
Key Insights
- Last Friday, Trump launched his own meme coin, $TRUMP, leveraging his brand recognition and popularity among crypto investors. The coin debuted at $10 and rocketed to $74.59. The $TRUMP token currently trades at $49 at the time of writing, valued at a $10 billion market cap, ranking it near the top 20 cryptocurrencies globally. On the coins official website, there's a non-investment disclaimer stating that $TRUMP is intended as an expression of support and is "not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity."
See: Trump Media Files Trademark for Crypto Platform ‘TruthFi’
- Melania Trump is clearly not one to miss the party and launched her own meme coin, $MELANIA, shortly after appealing to similar investors. When it launched it cannibalized $TRUMP's coin value for a while before both tokens settled, confirming the Trump's influence in the meme coin space. At the time of writing, $MELANIA coin is currently trading at $7.62 for a market cap of approx $1.15 billion
- Both coins are built on the Solana blockchain, known for high transaction capacity yet low costs. Both meme coins were also launched with 200 million token supply with the total cap at 1 billion tokens to be reached over 3 years. Approx 80% of the tokens are held by CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, both affiliates of the Trump Organization.
- Critics are concerned about the conflicts of interest and implications of a sitting president promoting personal financial ventures. Richard Painter, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, told CNN:
“I believe it is very dangerous to have the people who are supposed to oversee regulating financial instruments investing in them at the same time. There’s no precedent for a head of state to launch a personal cryptocurrency. The coin’s value could be influenced by his actions or policies once in office, particularly as Trump has said he will be more crypto-friendly, which will likely further inflate the coin’s value at least temporarily.”
See: Canada and Trump Risk Index What Fintechs Need to Know
Conclusion
The $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins highlight the growing power of celebrity influence in the cryptocurrency markets. It also exposes the volatility and associated risks. Which celebrity is next to launch the future of meme coins?
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