Two days, two memecoins, one huge shift
The moment I saw that Trump had launched his own cryptocurrency, my mind went blank. I thought his account had been hacked. After all, he was about to take office, and I figured he had a lot of moves lined up, but I did not expect something this big just two days before the inauguration. By the time the dust settled, the market cap of his memecoin had hit more than 60 billion dollars. It was the first time I have ever seen a meme coin with trading volume surpassing Bitcoin, and it is already ranked 18th by market cap.
I originally planned to record a video as soon as possible, but while I was in the middle of recording, Melania launched her own meme coin. I had to scrap that recording and start over. Just four hours after Melania went live, its fully diluted valuation broke 10 billion dollars, and its gains even outpaced Trump's coin. The frenzy sucked up nearly all the liquidity in the market. Tons of retail investors got liquidated, and pretty much every other coin bled, except for Solana and a couple of others. It was a wild two days, and it left a lot to unpack.
First, let's remember what these tokens actually are
Trump and Melania tokens are meme coins. That is the big premise behind everything. However meme coins work, the logic is well known: they are driven largely by attention, community, and speculation, not by an underlying cash flow or utility. I have made a lot of videos about this, so I won't repeat the full breakdown here. But it matters for understanding the rest.
That fundamental fact did not change just because the person launching the token is about to become president of the United States. The market still behaves like a meme coin market: extreme volatility, fast pumps, and sudden liquidity drains.
Why Trump will see this as a huge win
From Trump's perspective, this launch was a massive success. Trump is someone who loves attention and traffic. By issuing his own meme coin, he not only gained a huge amount of attention but also directly monetized that traffic. That is a very powerful combination for him.
In the future, his policies towards the crypto industry will probably be more favorable. He has already tested the benefits, and unlike some of his earlier political promises, this time he has truly jumped in himself, deeply binding his personal image to cryptocurrency. That personal financial stake changes the incentives.
The deeper money problem: national debt and the big players
Let's not forget Trump's identity once he takes office. He will have to face a series of problems America is dealing with, especially the massive national debt and countless people asking for money. Everything points to one thing: real, tangible money. That is what they need. One reason he wants to make Bitcoin a national strategic reserve asset is probably to help alleviate part of the US debt crisis, but that alone is nowhere near enough.
He will need even more money, and he cannot get it all by himself. So he is definitely going to think of ways to bring more people into the crypto game. We know the crypto space is growing in influence and more institutions are getting involved, but many major tech companies like Apple or Microsoft are still hesitant about issuing coins. Trump personally issuing his own coin could send a signal to these companies: the crypto market has money, it has traffic, and it even has official backing from the government. This might encourage new investors to jump in, ultimately helping America attract a significant inflow of US dollars.
Melania's token: tokenomics that don't add up
Compared to Trump, I find the Melania token harder to figure out. With Trump, we can at least understand his actions. He is paving the way for future crypto-related initiatives and acting as the image and ambassador of this new world. But what is Melania's purpose? Everyone really needs to be cautious here.
In its token allocation plan, the team holds 35% of the tokens. But the unlocking mechanism for the Melania team is locked for only 30 days, while Trump's is locked for 3 years. The tokenomics shown on the website do not match the actual on-chain data. You can see the tweets from Bubble Maps about that. It is very strange. I made some money with the Melania token, but you have to be careful when trading this one. A lot of people who missed the Trump coin are fomoing into Melania, but its valuation probably won't reach the same level as Trump's token. The tokenomics are off, and that is not good.
Ripple effects and what I am watching next
This event is likely to create a huge butterfly effect. Some die-hard ETH maxis might switch to Solana. It could attract more whales to join the PVP action and further boost the overall market cap of meme coins. It might even encourage more celebrities, companies, or politicians from other countries to jump into the meme coin trend. All of this remains uncertain, but there are a few key things I am keeping an eye on.
I was listening to a Twitter Space with Justin Sun yesterday, and he mentioned that he is going to pressure Trump to list World Liberty Financial quickly on Robinhood. That is insane, but it shows how quickly connected everything is becoming.
- Where Trump's market cap stabilizes.
- The stance of major centralized exchanges on listing Trump's coin. Robinhood listed it after Coinbase and Binance, so we have an idea, but the implications need to be watched.
- Which assets will have stronger secondary linkages with Trump's coin. World Liberty Financial has been buying a lot of LINK and AAVE. What are they planning to do with that?
- How US institutional funds and relevant government departments will respond to Trump's coin in the future.
The bigger picture: regulation and media narratives in Europe
One thing concerns me even more than the immediate market impact: the broader narrative and how this could shape future regulations, especially in Europe. It is chaos here in the United States, but let's be real: a US president launching a meme coin is headline gold. As wild as it sounds, it might just give European regulators the perfect reason to tighten their grip on the crypto market.
We have seen this play out before. Regulatory bodies are quick to act when they feel something new might disrupt the established order, especially in Europe. This Trump coin saga has all the ingredients to become the catalyst for stricter, more restrictive policies across the EU. The media's role in this will be huge. How they report on Trump's cryptocurrency, whether they sensationalize it or take a more cautious approach, will shape public perception. That public perception will in turn influence how regulators respond.
This is something we need to pay close attention to, not just as crypto investors or traders, but as global citizens. The ripple effects of how this narrative unfolds could impact not just crypto but the entire financial ecosystem.
Stay cautious, stay informed
Trump's move has thrown so many things into the unknown, and it is pretty much guaranteed to cause some serious short-term market volatility. I wish I could tell you what is coming next, but honestly I can't. The best thing you can do right now is stay cautious. Don't let the hype sweep you away, and approach everything with a level head.
As we move forward through these unpredictable waters, it is crucial to stay informed, think critically, and keep a close eye on how this story evolves, both in the media and in regulatory discussions worldwide.