Crypto markets were rocked by the launch of an “official” Donald Trump memecoin over the weekend, with traders bracing for even more chaos next week.
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The price of the “official” Trump memecoin has surged since its launch Friday evening, entering the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and reaching a staggering $14 billion.
Now, as leaks reveal Trump is preparing a wave of crypto-focused executive orders, Trump’s wife Melania launched her own rival cryptocurrency, driving up the price of Trump’s coin.
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“The official Melania meme is live,” the new first lady of the United States posted on X, along with a link to a website selling the cryptocurrency. “You can buy $melania now.”
The price of Melania’s coin soared as traders rushed to buy it, pushing it above $5 and giving it a fully diluted market cap of more than $5 billion.
Like Trump’s coin, Melania’s memecoin, a type of cryptocurrency similar to bitcoin that derives its value from the community’s level of interest and engagement, was launched on the Solana blockchain.
“It’s beyond crazy,” posted analysts from The Kobeissi Letter on 10 minutes. Within minutes of the launch of Melania Trump’s token, we saw massive sell orders in $trump.”
“Looks like crypto is becoming a family business,” posted X influencer Mario Nawfal.
After the launch of Melania’s coin, Trump’s memecoin crashed by about 40%, plunging as traders rushed to buy the new coin, according to on-chain data.
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Early buyers of the Trump coin saw a triple-digit increase since Friday evening, with some traders missing out because they believed Trump’s social media had been hacked.
The Trump family’s memecoin blitz comes after David Sacks, named crypto and artificial intelligence czar by Trump, declared a new era of crypto innovation in the United States.
“The reign of terror against crypto is over and the beginning of innovation in America for crypto has just begun,” Sacks said, speaking Friday at the so-called crypto ball event, intended to drum up support to Trump within the crypto community and demonstrate its value to the new administration.