Incoming First Lady Melania Trump has introduced a cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband Donald Trump’s inauguration as the President of the United States.
The announcement follows President-elect Donald Trump’s launch of the $Trump cryptocurrency just a day earlier. Both digital currencies have experienced growth but have shown significant market volatility.
“The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now,” she posted on the social platform X on Sunday.
The website for the “Official Melania Meme” says it is a crypto asset created and tracked on the Solana blockchain.
Disclaimers on the websites for both the $Trump and $Melania cryptocurrencies state that they are “not intended to be, or the subject of,” an investment opportunity or a security.
According to CoinMarketCap, the $Trump coin has a market valuation of approximately $12 billion (£9.8 billion), while the $Melania coin is valued at about $1.7 billion.
Although Donald Trump had previously dismissed cryptocurrency as a “scam,” he became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations during the 2024 election campaign.
On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve and to appoint financial regulators who would adopt a more favorable approach to digital assets. This fueled expectations that his administration might reduce regulatory restrictions on the crypto industry.
Following Trump’s electoral victory, bitcoin surged to an all-time high, currently trading at $140,000, according to the Coinbase trading platform.
Additionally, David Sacks, the incoming AI and crypto adviser, hosted a “Crypto Ball” in Washington, DC, on Friday.
Other cryptocurrencies, such as dogecoin—boosted by prominent Trump supporter Elon Musk—have also seen significant gains this year.
Under President Joe Biden, regulators had intensified scrutiny of the crypto industry, citing concerns over fraud and money laundering, and pursued legal action against several exchanges.