Trump's $TRUMP Memecoin Falls 40% As $MELANIA Launches

Melania Trump followed in the footsteps of her husband by dropping her $MELANIA memecoin Sunday evening.

That debut dinged the price of President-elect Donald Trump's $TRUMP coin by about 40% as capital flew over to $MELANIA. In afternoon trading, $TRUMP had fallen from $72 to around $30 before recovering to end the night at $55 a coin.

The whole ordeal was a good reminder of the volatility behind one of the stranger launches in crypto — let alone for an incoming President. For one, Melania's site looked significantly less thought out than $TRUMP's and the onboarding was far clunkier. For hours, users complained that their swaps via Phantom wallet were failing. Solana, riding high off the Trump launch, actually slid on Sunday.

Melania's coin managed to hold relatively well, garnering a fully diluted market cap of close to $10 billion — even though it's important to note a significant token unlock (10% of the team's allocation) happens in just 30 days. The lockup for $TRUMP was 3 months.

The swift reaction in price for Trump's original memecoin reflects some of the cannibalism that is likely to come from future projects attached to the Trumps.

Importantly, the regulatory leash for President Trump will get tighter after the inauguration. Ethically, many on X already raised issue with the second coin drop so close to Trump taking office. And indeed, there are rules in the Constitution about what a President is able to do when it comes to profiting from the office. Perhaps there is a reason why the $MELANIA drop looked more rushed — but it could also just be that she used a different company to launch her token.

Importantly, $MELANIA has a very different lockup schedule and token distribution. The first token release will happen in just 30 days. That could lead to increased volatility very soon.

Nonetheless, despite the debate that the Trump memecoin launch has triggered, the overall takeaway seems to be positive. According to one X poll we are running, more people seem to be bullish about the launch than bearish. What say you? Mint a Coinage NFT to have your voice heard and join our Telegram group to co-own and steer the most important crypto media DAO in Web3.

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