Melania Trump Introduces Her Own Cryptocurrency

Just before her husband's inauguration as US president, incoming First Lady Melania Trump unveiled her own cryptocurrency. This announcement follows the launch of the $Trump cryptocurrency by President-elect Donald Trump the day before. Both cryptocurrencies have experienced price increases, though with significant volatility.

On Sunday, she posted on the social platform X, "The Official Melania Meme is live! You can now purchase $MELANIA." The website for the "Official Melania Meme" states that it is a crypto asset created and tracked on the Solana blockchain.

Disclaimers on the websites for both the $Trump and $Melania coins stated that they were "not intended to be, nor should be considered" an investment opportunity or a security.

As per the CoinMarketCap website, $Trump currently has a market valuation of approximately $8.7bn, while $Melania is valued at around $1.3bn. Although Trump had previously referred to crypto as a "scam," he became the first presidential candidate during the 2024 election campaign to accept digital assets as donations.

During the campaign, Trump also mentioned plans to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve and appoint financial regulators who would adopt a more favorable approach toward digital assets. This fueled speculation that he would ease regulations on the crypto industry.

Following Trump's victory, bitcoin surged to a record high and is currently trading at $140,000, according to the crypto trading platform Coinbase.

On Friday, David Sacks, the incoming AI and crypto czar, hosted a “Crypto Ball” in Washington DC.

Other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin which has been championed by prominent Trump supporter Elon Musk have also seen significant gains this year.

Under President Joe Biden, regulators raised concerns about fraud and money laundering, leading to a crackdown on crypto companies through lawsuits against exchanges.