Melania Trump Stuns Bitcoin Community

Former US First Lady Melania Trump has caused quite a stir on Twitter after celebrating the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin genesis block in a now-viral tweet.

She also attached the raw hex version of the very first block whose coinbase parameter contains a London Times headline about bank bailouts:

The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.

It is widely reported that Bitcoin’s market cap exceeds USD$1 Trillion.  Today marks the 13th anniversary of the Bitcoin Genesis Block.  Happy Anniversary, #SatoshiNakamoto #MelaniaNFT pic.twitter.com/aZqNJFcZmd

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 3, 2022

“Block zero” was mined by Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto on Jan. 3, 2009. Its anniversary was widely celebrated by many prominent members of the community, including former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Melania Trump’s tweet also mentions that the market capitalization of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exceeds $1 trillion (even though the flagship coin is currently valued at $872 billion).

Those who have been out of the loop were likely caught off guard by her sudden support for Bitcoin. Last month, however, Melania Trump made her foray into the world of non-fungible tokens by announcing her “Melania’s Vision” NFT in collaboration with Marc-Antoine Coulon.

The former first lady casually reminded the crypto community about the artwork by including the #MelaniaNFT hashtag in her celebratory tweet.

Donald Trump thinks Bitcoin is a scam  

Now that Melania Trump has come out as a Bitcoiner, members of the community want her to change her husband’s stance on crypto.  

In a June interview with Fox News, former U.S. President Trump described Bitcoin as “a scam” while calling for imposing harsh regulations on cryptocurrencies. In his most recent interviews, he reiterated his negative views on crypto.     

Donald Trump’s former archrival, Hillary Clinton, said that crypto could undermine the role of the U.S. dollar.