On the night before her husband’s inauguration as U.S president, Melania Trump, the first lady, introduced a cryptocurrency.
The statement follows the creation of the $Trump cryptocurrency by President-elect Donald Trump. Despite their ascent, both coins have had erratic trading.
“The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $Melania now,” she posted on the social platform X on Sunday.
Disclaimers on the websites of both the $Trump and $Melania coins said they were “not intended to be, or the subject of” an investment opportunity or a security.
The CoinMarketCap website states that Melania’s entire market value is approximately $1.7 billion, whereas Trump’s is approximately $12 billion (£9.8 billion).
After calling cryptocurrency a “scam” in the past, Trump became the first presidential contender to accept donations in the form of digital assets during the 2024 election campaign.
During the campaign, his family started World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company that hopes to spearhead “a financial revolution by dismantling the stranglehold of traditional financial institutions” and sells cryptocurrencies.
The Trump Organization associate CIC Digital LLC, which developed the new coin, has ties to the 2022 sales of cryptocurrency collectible NFTs that generated millions of dollars but have subsequently seen a sharp decline in value for their owners.
According to CoinGecko, the NFTs once sold for more than $1,000 but have since dropped in value to around $300.
Additionally, Trump stated throughout the campaign that he would designate financial regulators who have a more favourable attitude towards digital assets and establish a strategic Bitcoin stockpile. This raised hopes that he will loosen rules governing the cryptocurrency sector.
According to cryptocurrency trading site Coinbase, Bitcoin surged to a record high of almost $109,000 following Trump’s victory. David Sacks, the incoming cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence (AI) tsar, hosted a “Crypto Ball” in Washington, DC, on Friday.
This year has also seen a significant increase in other cryptocurrencies, such as Dogecoin, which has been pushed by well-known Trump supporter Elon Musk.
Regulators have been cracking down on cryptocurrency companies by suing exchanges under President Joe Biden, citing worries about fraud and money laundering.
The rise in popularity of “meme coins”—cryptocurrencies that are usually associated with a viral online trend or moment—has been greatly boosted by Dogecoin.
The source of Melania’s memes is her own incorporated business, MKT World LLC, which she has been using since 2021 for a number of business endeavors, including the sale of photographs of herself in her role as first lady.
There are thousands of meme coins in circulation, and anyone may make and launch one.