Donald Trump has become the first pro-cryptocurrency president of the United States. His inauguration took place on January 20, 2025, during which he and his wife, Melania Trump, launched their own meme coins — TRUMP and MELANIA.
What you need to know about TRUMP and MELANIA — the cryptocurrency of Trump’s family
Trump Family Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrencies tied to a specific individual function like stocks. When positive news about the person emerges, these coins often rise in value; negative news can cause their prices to plummet. Now Donald and Melania Trump have such “stocks.” Here’s what you need to know.
Official Trump (TRUMP)
U.S. President Donald Trump released the OFFICIAL TRUMP (TRUMP) cryptocurrency. It is a meme coin on the Solana blockchain.
The meme coin launched on the night of January 17-18, 2025. It took just one day for the cryptocurrency to enter the top 20 by market capitalization.
The official project website states that OFFICIAL TRUMP is the only official Trump meme coin. This clarification is not coincidental; prior to OFFICIAL TRUMP’s appearance, there were many Trump coins in circulation, such as MAGA (TRUMP) and MAGA Hat (MAGA), created by members of the crypto community unrelated to the politician. The president’s meme coin began “sucking” liquidity from its predecessors.
“Trump meme coins serve as an expression of support and engagement with the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’ and corresponding artworks. The coins should not be viewed as an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any kind,” warn the developers.
The emission of Trump’s coin is limited to 1 billion tokens. At launch, 200 million tokens were unlocked for sale. The remainder will be released over 36 months. Here’s how the emission schedule for Trump’s cryptocurrency looks:
There are eight groups designated for distributing TRUMP. The distribution is as follows: 36% (360 million) goes to the first group *creators & cic digital; 18% (180 million) to the second group creators & cic digital; another 18% (180 million) to the third group creators & cic digital; 10% (100 million) is allocated for liquidity; another 10% (100 million) for public sale; 4% (40 million) goes to the fourth group creators & cic digital; 2% (20 million) to the fifth group creators & cic digital; and the remaining 2% (20 million) to the sixth group creators & cic digital.
*Creators & cic digital is a team of developers and partners responsible for creating and developing the project.
As of this writing, Trump’s cryptocurrency ranks 25th in market capitalization on CoinMarketCap with a price of $34.53. On January 19, 2025, at its peak, Trump’s coin reached $75.35. Trump’s cryptocurrency is traded on many popular exchanges including Binance, OKX, Bybit, Bitget, Kraken, and KuCoin.
Melania Meme (MELANIA)
Melania Trump announced her own meme coin Melania Meme (MELANIA) on January 20, 2025, coinciding with Trump’s inauguration day. Her coin also quickly entered the top rankings but at a more modest position — within the top 70.
Melania’s cryptocurrency is also built on Solana.
“Melania meme coins represent digital collectibles designed to express support and engagement with values embodied by the symbol MELANIA and corresponding artwork. Tokens should not be viewed as an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type,” states the project website.
The project site presents a token distribution scheme for Melania Trump’s tokens. There are five categories: 15% is allocated for public distribution; 10% for maintaining liquidity; 20% for community engagement; another 20% goes to treasury; and the remaining 35% is reserved for the project team. Tokens allocated for the project team will be unlocked over a period of 13 months.
As of this writing, MELANIA ranks 150th in market capitalization on CoinMarketCap with a trading price of $2.68. The maximum price for MELANIA was recorded at $13.73 on January 20.
Melania’s cryptocurrency is traded on several major exchanges: KuCoin, Bitget, Kraken, and HTX.
Coins from Other Trump Family Members
Following Donald and Melania Trump’s cryptocurrency launch, rumors circulated within the crypto community that other family members might soon launch their own coins as well. Scammers took advantage of this situation; for instance, an unknown party executed a pump-and-dump scheme with a meme coin allegedly created by Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump.
There was also information circulating that Trump’s son Barron wants to launch his own coin. This information was similarly exploited by fraudsters.
Why Trump Tokens Are Criticized
Not all members of the crypto community are pleased that the president launched his meme coin. The coin has been criticized for excessive centralization since 80% of TRUMP tokens are locked in a wallet accessible only to project creators. This structure could open opportunities for manipulating the price of Trump’s coin.
MELANIA has also faced criticism over unfair token distribution that weakens its market position and makes investors vulnerable.
Speculation has arisen that insiders could profit from launching Trump’s cryptocurrency. Some believe that TRUMP is a genuine scam.
However, there are optimists as well. Some members of the crypto community think that thanks to Trump’s cryptocurrency launch, new investors — those who previously knew nothing about digital assets — have flooded into the market. This “new blood” could support growth in the crypto industry and increase prices.
The reaction of the crypto community has been notable, as users have pointed out unusual transaction statistics related to Trump’s cryptocurrency, which may indicate insider trading. If these assumptions are correct, Trump’s coin risks facing regulatory scrutiny. Not all members of the crypto community have rushed to invest in Donald and Melania Trump’s cryptocurrency. For instance, Anthony Pompliano, founder of Pomp Investments, declined to purchase the coins, stating on X that he does not hold any TRUMP or Melania tokens. He emphasized that the launch of the Trump tokens signifies “the beginning of a new era.”
Charles Hoskinson, founder of the blockchain project Cardano, views these tokens as “a new type of asset,” describing Trump’s coin as a political marker of approval that measures his current popularity, power, and reach.
Many in the crypto space believe that the Trump family’s attempts to enter the cryptocurrency market through their projects are detrimental to the industry. Some even label the couple’s meme coins as scams.
Community members joke that since there are many people in the Trump family, those who missed out on TRUMP and Melania tokens might still have opportunities to profit from meme coins launched by other family members.
Source: https://coinpaper.com/7131/what-you-need-to-know-about-trump-and-melania-the-cryptocurrency-of-trump-s-family