Controversy has surrounded the MELANIA token, which was launched by the same strategist who worked on the controversial LIBRA token promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei.
The official Solana meme coin of Melania Trump (MELANIA) is up nearly 7% in the last 24 hours after the First Lady promoted an apparently AI-generated video of herself posted by the token’s official X account.
MELANIA is now trading at $0.182, up more than 12% on the week, but still down roughly 99% from its January all-time high of $13.05. It briefly popped to a daily high of $0.191 following the first lady’s retweet.
“Into the future,” the first lady’s social media post read, tagging the meme token profile and resharing the video — which showcases her likeness appearing out of thin air — to her 3.8 million followers.
The meme coin project’s social media post was its first since June, when it alerted its followers that tokens may be on the move to new wallets as a result of a liquidity providing agreement with crypto market maker Wintermute.
The movement of MELANIA tokens connected to the project and team has been controversial in the past. In April, blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps reported that $30 million worth of MELANIA was taken from community funds and quietly sold on the market by the team.
Prior to that, around $2 million worth of MELANIA tokens was reportedly siphoned off via the single-sided liquidity tactic popularized by Hayden Davis — the launch strategist for both MELANIA and the controversial Libra token promoted by Argentine President Javier Milei.
At least an additional $8 million has been pulled from the community pool and sold as well, according to Bubblemaps analysis. However, as of this writing, no member from the project has spoken out about the token sales despite Bubblemaps keeping the project’s feet against the fire.
“Woooo Melania Trump won’t address the $10M of community tokens sold by team wallets,” the analytics firm posted on X. “Just post an AI video after 10 months of silence? Cool, cool, cool.”
The first lady’s meme coin famously launched just two days after President Donald Trump’s official TRUMP meme coin debuted in January. It briefly surged to a price of more than $13 before crashing to less than $2 as January drew to a close.
TRUMP has suffered a similar fate, peaking above $73 in January but now changing hands at $7.72 — almost a 90% drop from the top.
