Melania Trump launches meme coin following husband's lead, drawing criticism from crypto industry
Photo: Donald Trump and Melania Trump (Getty Images)
The new meme coins of Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, have faced criticism from cryptocurrency company leaders. They had expected that the new Republican administration would take the digital asset sector seriously, Bloomberg reports.
The elected President introduced the "Trump" token on January 17, while his wife, Melania, launched her pseudo-coin "Melania" on January 19. At one point, the market value of Trump's meme coin reached $15 billion but later dropped below $8 billion as Melania's token took some of the spotlight.
In the disclaimers on the websites of the Trump and Melania coins, it is stated that they "are not intended to be or are not" investment opportunities or securities.
Irresponsible approach
The meme coin sector, filled with tokens like Dogecoin that offer little intrinsic value and high volatility, has sparked disagreement. It fuels criticism of the emerging industry as being too frivolous and risky for mainstream investors.
Meme coins rely on social media support, which can disappear as quickly as they emerge.
"The weekend launches are now clearly a blight that we will have to work to put behind us as builders," said Rob Hadick, general partner at crypto-focused venture-capital company Dragonfly Capital.
Expectations from Trump
Earlier, Trump had called cryptocurrency a "scam," but during the 2024 election campaign, he became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations.
During his campaign, Trump also stated that he would create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin and appoint financial regulators to take a more positive stance on digital assets.
Such preconditions led to expectations that the future US President would ease regulations on the crypto industry.
After Trump's victory, Bitcoin hit another all-time high and currently trades at around $107,000.
