Memecoin Battle Heats Up as $TRUMP Falls 40% After $MELANIA Launch

Memecoins have now entered the world of power, releasing Melania Trump’s self-named token, Melania Meme (MELANIA), which is causing waves in the crypto scene. The token’s debut has led to a drop in the value of a competitor token, Official Trump (TRUMP), introduced earlier.

Two days before Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th President of the United States, he and his wife unveiled their memecoins, TRUMP and MELANIA, with the latter launching just a day before the inauguration. This sparked strong reactions within the crypto community.

Memecoin Battle Heats Up

The Kobeissi Letter, a leading commentary on global capital markets, recently reported on X that TRUMP’s value dropped over 40%, from $74.6 to $43, after MELANIA’s release. As a result, TRUMP lost nearly $5 billion in value, and its market capitalization shrank from around $15 billion to approximately $10 billion, according to CoinMarketCap data.

BREAKING: Donald Trump’s memecoin, $TRUMP, crashes over -40% as Melania Trump launches her own memecoin.

This is beyond insane. pic.twitter.com/6Oj2GGqjqF

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) January 19, 2025

The launch of MELANIA also had a ripple effect on other well-known memecoins such as Dogecoin (DOGE), Pepe Coin (PEPE), and Shiba Inu (SHIB). Following MELANIA’s debut, DOGE and SHIB dropped by about 7% and 6%, respectively, while PEPE saw a sharper decline of 12.6%. However, these tokens have since rebounded, with DOGE, SHIB, and PEPE rising by 5%, 4%, and 8%, respectively, at press time.

Crypto Community Reacts to MELANIA’s Debut

While TRUMP saw a significant downturn, MELANIA’s introduction has been met with praise. The token has been presented as a means to promote “support” and “engagement,” with its website clearly stating that it is “not intended” as an investment vehicle.

Melania Trump, along with her husband, helped promote MELANIA by posting on X, which resulted in over 45,000 wallets purchasing the token shortly after its release, according to DEXScreener data. Notably, MELANIA’s website indicates that 35% of the tokens were allocated to the project team, while 20% each went to the treasury and community, 15% to the public, and 10% for liquidity.

However, the blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps has raised concerns. They reported that nearly 90% of the MELANIA tokens are held in a single wallet, which contradicts the stated distribution plan.

Meanwhile, crypto developer “cygaar” also pointed out issues with the token’s website, noting that it was quickly put together on January 18. The site was missing protection from cybersecurity provider Cloudflare and featured subpar front-end code.