A small group of traders reportedly earned $99.6 million by purchasing the meme coin MELANIA before Melania Trump announced its launch. This was revealed by FT.
The former First Lady of the United States introduced the token on social media just hours before her husband Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Two and a half minutes before Melania Trump’s post on the Truth Social platform, two dozen wallets bought MELANIA worth $2.6 million. Amid a sharp price increase, traders quickly sold the coins, with 81% of assets sold within the first 12 hours.
One wallet spent $681,000 on the meme coin 64 seconds before the project’s existence was announced. Within a day, this account earned $39 million by offloading most of its assets. Sales over the following three days brought in an additional $4.4 million.
The first wallet to purchase tokens ahead of the launch acquired MELANIA for $40,000, 141 seconds before the post was published. The account then sold 86% of the coins within two hours, earning $2.5 million.
FT confirmed the findings of Bubblemaps experts, who noted that this wallet was funded from an account previously used in Hayden Davis’s projects. The entrepreneur claimed involvement in the launch of MELANIA. He was also listed as the CEO of Kelsier, the company behind the meme coin LIBRA. In February, the coin was endorsed by Argentina’s President Javier Milei, which eventually led to a political scandal.
According to MELANIA’s official website, the meme token is sold by MKT World LLC. The Delaware-registered firm has been used by the former First Lady for various ventures since 2021.
In an interview with YouTuber Stephen Findiesen (Coffeezilla), Davis stated:
“The MELANIA team made no money. We withdrew no liquidity. Zero.”
In April, Bubblemaps specialists discovered that the meme coin’s developers withdrew from the community fund and sold tokens worth $30 million.
Two days before the inauguration, Donald Trump introduced his own official coin, TRUMP. The team behind the asset is unrelated to MELANIA. The first sale of TRUMP occurred 42 seconds after the politician’s post on Truth Social announcing the token’s launch.
According to FT estimates, the organizations behind the coin earned at least $350 million. Trump assured NBC News in an interview that he does not profit from the meme coin.
At the time of writing, MELANIA trades nearly 98% below its all-time high of $13.05, recorded shortly after the official launch.
TRUMP’s quotes have shown a similar trajectory. The coin is valued at 85% below its ATH of $73.43.
Back in April, the TRUMP price surged following the announcement of a gala dinner with Trump for the largest meme coin holders. The announcement triggered a daily price increase of 60%.