It's the war of the Republicans, and as First Lady Melania Trump launches her own cryptocurrency, it's had an unexpected effect on her husband's meme coin.
Donald Trump is about to step back into the Oval Office for his second term, meaning all eyes are on Washington ahead of his January 20 inauguration.
Kicking off the celebrations early, Melania Trump is making the most of the crypto boom by launching her own meme coin - let's just hope it goes better for her than it did for Haliey "Hawk Tuah Girl" Welch.
There's been a recent rally for Trump's $Trump, with its price tripling to over $70 and its total value reaching over $14 billion. Then, when his wife's $Melania coin launched, things started to dip.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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."