Donald Trump’s TRUMP coin saw a sharp 30+% price drop after the MELANIA token was launched. MELANIA also faced some scrutiny over its token distribution and rushed development, as 90% of its supply is reportedly held in a single wallet. Meanwhile, TRUMP, the Solana-based meme coin, spurred a lot of activity on the blockchain. It also boosted Solana’s native asset, SOL, and elevated NFT collections like Mad Lads. Additionally, the broader crypto market saw increased interest after decent gains in Solana-based tokens and a resurgence of Trump’s Digital Trading Cards. Melania Trump Launches Meme Coin The crypto world was shaken on Jan. 19 after Melania Trump, the incoming First Lady of the United States, launched her self-titled meme coin, MELANIA . The crypto reached a staggering $6 billion market cap in just two hours of its debut. This sudden rise led to a dramatic shift in the market as Donald Trump’s own meme coin, TRUMP, experienced a large drop in value. The TRUMP token’s market cap plummeted by $5 billion, while its price fell 30+% to $45.9 in just 40 minutes, according to CoinMarketCap data. TRUMP’s price action over the past 24 hours (Source: CoinMarketCap ) Melania Trump announced the launch of her token through a social media post , which was also shared by her husband. Data from DEXScreener revealed that more than 45,000 wallets participated in buying the token, which quickly surged to a market cap of $6.14 billion. The website promoting MELANIA stated that the token was created to foster “support” and “engagement” rather than being positioned as an investment opportunity. According to the website , the token distribution includes allocations of 35% to the team, 20% each to treasury and community, 15% to the public, and 10% for liquidity. However, blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps contradicted these claims by revealing that almost 90% of the token’s supply is held in a single wallet. This raised some serious concerns about transparency and the token’s true distribution. Coinbase executive Conor Grogan commented that while MELANIA’s launch does not look to be a rug pull, it seems to have been handled by a less organized team compared to the TRUMP token, which showed signs of professional market-making. Grogan speculated that MELANIA might have been managed by a new team with possibly inexperienced developers . More scrutiny of MELANIA’s launch uncovered even more potential red flags. The creator wallet was reportedly funded through a transaction on Solana’s meme coin launchpad pump.fun. Additionally, the website hosting the token’s details, “melaniameme.com,” was registered only a day before the launch and did not have key cybersecurity measures. Crypto developer “cygaar” pointed out that the site seems quite rushed with substandard front-end coding. MKT World LLC, a company that was established by Melania Trump in 2021 and sharing an address with the Trump International Golf Club, holds the intellectual property rights to the website. Google Searches Surge Amid TRUMP Meme Coin Hype The launch of President-elect Donald Trump’s meme coin, TRUMP, also drove search volumes for terms like “ buy crypto ” and “ buy Solana ” to record highs. Data from Google Trends shows that both terms reached a perfect score of 100, indicating peak search interest. Other crypto-related terms, like “Coinbase” and “crypto app,” also saw a sharp increase in search activity as part of the buzz surrounding the current meme coin frenzy. Google searches for ‘buy Solana’ (Source: Google Trends ) TRUMP is a Solana-based meme coin that very quickly captured headlines and divided opinions in the crypto community. The meme coin was initially met with a lot of skepticism due to the existence of numerous knock-off Trump-themed tokens, but the authenticity of the project was confirmed by members of Trump’s team after a promotional post by the president-elect on X. Trump declared the launch of his “Official Trump Meme” as a celebration of his vision and invited supporters to join his community. This endorsement sent the token’s price soaring to $67 and a fully diluted valuation of approximately $67 billion. The token’s meteoric rise had a ripple effect on the broader market as well, especially on Solana’s native asset, SOL . The altcoin surged to highs and caused it to peak at $270 per coin, boosted by the attention drawn to the Solana ecosystem by TRUMP’s success. At press time, the price of the altcoin stabilized around $239. Arthur Hayes, market analyst and co-founder of BitMEX, predicts that TRUMP could achieve a fully diluted valuation of $100 billion by the time of the inauguration on Monday. Hayes also suggested that meme coins like TRUMP could potentially bring political accountability onto the blockchain. He also promised to release an essay exploring this concept even more. TRUMP Meme Coin Boosts Solana and Mad Lads NFTs The Solana blockchain is experiencing a big surge in activity, driven by the launch of the TRUMP meme coin and a rally in its native asset, SOL. The increased attention even propelled the NFT collection Mad Lads to the 8th spot among the most valuable NFTs by floor market cap. With a market cap of close to $151 million and a floor price of $15,177, the collection recorded $472,748 in trading volume from 27 sales in the past 24 hours. This was still slightly less than the NFT collection’s performance from the day before. Mad Labs was created by Armani Ferrante and Tristan Yver of Backpack Exchange, and it blends anime-style art with themes inspired by Peaky Blinders. Top NTF rankings (Source: NFT Price Floor ) The broader Solana NFT market also grew by about 15% on Jan. 19, with its total market cap reaching $714 million and trading volume hitting $3.39 million. Other collections, like Claynosaurz and Solana Monkey Business , also saw some impressive gains. Claynosaurz hit a floor price of $4,882, up 13.8%, with a market cap of $48.8 million, while Solana Monkey Business has a floor price of $7,956, which is a 7.1% increase and a market cap of $39.7 million. Solana-based tokens mirrored this upward trend on Jan. 19. Jupiter’s token, JUP , rose 33%, while Raydium’s token, RAY , climbed 10%. Despite their impressive gains the day before, both of these tokens saw double digit losses at press time. The impact of the TRUMP meme coin extended beyond Solana by reigniting interest in Trump’s Digital Trading Cards on the Polygon blockchain. The first collection traded at a floor price of $936.91 on Jan. 19, up 12%, with a market cap of $93.5 million and a trading volume of $2.44 million. The second collection also gained some traction, with its floor price rising 10% to $213, supported by 2,133 sales, a market cap of $22.6 million, and a trading volume of $940,000.
