Melania Trump launches cryptocurrency ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration

First lady-to-be Melania Trump launched her own meme coin ahead of her husband’s inauguration as the 47th.^th President of the United States on Monday.

In a post Sunday night on the X social media platform, she announced that investors “can buy $MELANIA now.”

The Melania token was trading at $11.16 at 10:48 a.m. London time Monday, up more than 50% according to data from CoinMarketCap. It has a market cap of $2.15 billion.

President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated for a second term on Monday, also launched his own meme coin – a cryptocurrency that draws inspiration from online communities and internet memes – on Friday via the Solana Blockchain network. On Monday, the “official Trump” coin fell 20% to trade at $53.74 at 10:53 London time, according to CoinMarketCap.

Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency was the largest meme coin on the Solana network by market capitalization at 10:35 a.m. London time, according to data from CoinGecko, with Melania Trump’s token in fourth place at the time.

In a disclaimer on the meme coin official websiteadvises potential purchasers that Melania memes “are digital collectibles intended to serve as an expression of support for and engagement with the values ​​embodied by the symbol MELANIA. and the associated artwork and are not intended to to be or be the subject of , an investment opportunity, investment contract or security of any type.”

On the Trump token websitethe cryptocurrency – depicted with an image of Trump raising his fist in the air – is being marketed as “a piece of history”, while Trump himself is being labeled the “crypto-president”.

Trump, who has publicly taken a pro-cryptocurrency stance in the past and reportedly plans to release an executive order making the digital asset a national priority, has promised to release 1 billion “official Trump” tokens over the next three years. At least 200 million of this amount of coins entered circulation upon the token’s initial release.

Grzegorz Drozdz, market analyst at Conotoxia, said in emailed comments Monday that investors should exercise caution when buying assets like Trump’s cryptocurrencies.

“Meme cryptocurrencies like these are prone to large fluctuations and we generally consider them speculative assets,” he said. “The tokens released by Donald and Melania Trump appear to symbolize support for the digital currency sector. However, the introduction of these coins during the presidential inauguration raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.”

Representatives for Donald and Melania Trump were not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Cryptocurrencies can generally be volatile. Bitcoin, the world’s most valuable digital coin, has been known to rise or fall by thousands of dollars in a single day. Alternative coins, or “altcoins,” like ether and XRP have proven to be even more prone to fluctuations.

Tokens can be spun up by anyone with an internet connection. In 2021, a token based on the hit show “Squid Game” came wildly off the hype surrounding the series — only to lose virtually all of its value, costing some investors tens of thousands of dollars.

After Sunday’s launch of the “Melania” token, the president-elect’s “official Trump” coin briefly plunged as much as 40%, according to analysts at The Kobeissi Letter in a Sunday publication on X.

— CNBC’s Ryan Browne contributed to this report.