A group of crypto traders reportedly made around $100 million in profit by buying Melania Trump’s memecoin just minutes before its official launch.
According to a report by the Financial Times, the traders spent $2.6 million to acquire 16.7 million $MELANIA tokens shortly before the First Lady announced the project publicly on January 19. The price of the token climbed from roughly $2.00 to $12.95 following the announcement, a 550% increase, and the traders sold most of their holdings within 12 hours.
The FT identified 24 wallets that accumulated the bulk of the pre-launch tokens, with another 22 wallets buying roughly $900,000 worth of tokens in the 42 seconds following the announcement. The suspicious timing raised concerns of insider trading or advance knowledge of the launch.
The memecoin’s debut came just two days after Donald Trump revealed his own TRUMP token, which has also drawn scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers. Some politicians voiced concerns about potential corruption, conflicts of interest, and even foreign influence. Criticism intensified after it was revealed that top TRUMP token holders would receive invitations to a private dinner and tour with the president, prompting at least one senator to call for impeachment proceedings.
Despite their explosive launches, both tokens have since seen steep declines. At the time of writing, MELANIA is trading at around $0.31, and TRUMP has dropped to $10.90. The TRUMP token did enjoy a brief price boost after the dinner announcement in April but quickly fell again.
Adding to the controversy, two companies connected to Donald Trump reportedly control about 80% of the TRUMP token supply, although a large portion of those holdings is locked and set to vest over the next three years.
Critics warned that the structure leaves room for insiders to potentially pull the rug on retail investors, especially as political and regulatory scrutiny over crypto and campaign fundraising heats up.
For his part, Trump gave conflicting responses on whether he has financially benefited from his own cryptocurrency project during a Meet the Press interview released May 4.
When pressed by NBC’s Kristen Welker about profiting from the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin launched in January, Trump responded, “I haven’t even looked,” and insisted, “I’m not profiting from anything.” However, he added, “If I own stock in something and I do a good job, and the stock market goes up, I guess I’m profiting.”