Did the Haliey “Hawk Tuah Girl” Welch saga teach us nothing? Did Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson not tell us that meme coins are ‘icky’? The idea of celebrating Donald Trump‘s return to the Oval Office with a meme coin might’ve sounded like a patriotic way to usher in this new era of cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence advancements, and with 500 people reportedly becoming millionaires overnight, it looked like some were destined to become pretty rich.
Not least of them was Trump himself, with the returning POTUS making billions off the back of the meme coin. As we’ve already warned, meme coins can be volatile and have been compared to ‘gambling’ by some, which was shown by the launch of Melania Trump’s own $MELANIA coin wiping a ton of value off her husband’s.
The Commander in Chief and his wife have come under fire recently, with the current worth of Melania’s coin being branded as ‘disgusting’ just over a month after it was first launched. To put it into context, those who invested $10,000 in Melania’s coin during its inauguration peak of $13.73 find the total would now be worth just $652.44.
Things aren’t looking much better for $TRUMP, as it’s managed to wipe 80% off its value since its January 17 launch. As reported by The Telegraph, $TRUMP has spectacularly dropped from its January 19 peak of $73.43.
Having plummeted from $15 billion to $2.7 billion on February 27, it currently sits at a measly $11.27 at the time of writing and has lost over $12 billion. The site also claims that the value of the coins owned by Trump himself has been slashed by a jaw-dropping $50 billion.
It’s bad news across the board for crypto, with the dramatic drop of interest in $TRUMP and $MELANIA being part of a wider fallout. After Bitcoin similarly hit an all-time high of $108,786 on January 20’s inauguration day, it’s slumped down to just $79,844. This goes against the projections of some, who predicted Bitcoin could soar past $200,000 per coin in 2025.
Things aren’t looking great for Trump vowing to be the world’s first ‘crypto president’ or the appointment of venture capitalist David Sacks as the White House’s very own ‘Crypto Tsar’.
Posting on social media, the returning POTUS wrote: “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.”
According to the $Trump coin website, the Trump-affiliated CIC Digital LLC will own 80% of its supply.
As reported by The Guardian, $Trump broke into the top 20 cryptocurrencies and caused a ‘digital stampede’ that made all other coins fall in value while traders dashed to sell their existing crypto and invest big in Trump’s.
The same happened with the launch of $Melania, with some even selling their new investments in $Trump to get on the Melania train. She posted the following on X, which was then reshared by her husband: “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.”
The price of $Trump plummeted from $75 to $30 shortly after $Melania’s launch, then climbed back up to around $64. In just a matter of hours, $Melania has reached a worth as high as $13 billion.
Analysts at The Kobeissi Letter wrote: “This is beyond insane. Less than 48 hours ago, Donald Trump launched $trump which just erased $7.5bn in market cap in 10 minutes. In the minutes around the launch of Melania Trump’s token, we saw massive sell orders in $trump.”
This could be a sign of things to come, with Bitcoin hitting a record high of $108,943 on the morning of January 20. It’s no coincidence that this is the same day Trump is going to be inaugurated, especially as he was the first President of the United States to order a burger with Bitcoin.
Looking at the bigger picture, Bitcoin has continued to climb since Trump trounced Kamala Harris in the November 2024 election.
Still, there are concerns about potential Presidential conflicts of interest. Trump memorably released crypto trading cards during his campaign and made more than $4 million from each release, His sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr also launched their World Liberty Financial crypto venture, while the $Trump coin site has a disclaimer that says: “Trump memes are intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$Trump’ and the associated artwork, and are not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type.
“GetTrumpMemes.com is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or governmental agency.”
