Trump meme coin crash: Melania down from $2 billion to $790 million market cap, Trump halves gain to below $7 billion

Donald Trump's family meme coins crashed during his inauguration as US president. His wife Melania's coin, $Melania, lost market capitalisation from $2 billion to $790 million, while $Trump halved its crypto market gains from the previous day, settling down near $6.86 billion, according to Coinmarketcap data.

Overnight, both meme coins $TRUMP and $MELANIA nosedived into the red after peaking the previous day when Trump's wife announced her rival entry into the cryptocurrency market with the $Melania coin. The numbers are accurate, as of the time of writing, at 8.15 am on January 21 (IST), according to Coinmarketcap data.

Bitcoin Price Today at $102,000 Amid Crypto Enthusiasm

The global cryptocurrency market cap is $3.53 trillion, a 0.64 per cent increase over the previous day, according to Coinmarketcap. Of this, the world's largest crypto, Bitcoin, holds 57.69 per cent dominance — a 0.37 per cent increase from the previous day, it added.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin's price today (January 21) was $102,701—below its all-time high of around $109,000 the day before, but well above the symbolic $100k mark.

The buoyancy is because industry watchers expect Donald Trump to fulfil his election campaign promise of becoming a “crypto president,” creating a federal Bitcoin stockpile and making several policy adjustments to favour digital assets, Reuters reported.

While a slew of Trump executive orders came on his first day in the White House, crypto experts were disappointed that nothing was immediately announced for the sector, pulling the crypto down from its inauguration anticipation high, the report added.

About Trump, Melania Meme Coin Price, Ownership & More

Around 80 per cent of the Trump coins are owned by Donald Trump-affiliated CIC Digital and Fight, Fight, Fight, details on the official website showed.

The meme coins were rolled out just months after Trump and his sons announced the launch of World Liberty Finance, a decentralised finance (DiFi) digital asset platform, in September 2024. DeFi is an arcane crypto sector in which people trade, lend, and borrow digital assets peer-to-peer using automated software, according to a Bloomberg report.

Donald Trump's meme coin, $TRUMP, is trading at $36.22 at 9.20 am on January 21 (IST), while Melania Trump's token, $Melania, is priced at $4.22, according to data on Coinmarketcap.

Trump Memes an ‘Ethical Dilemma’ Say Experts

“While it's tempting to dismiss this as just another Trump spectacle, the launch of the official Trump token opens up a Pandora's box of ethical and regulatory questions,” Justin D'Anethan, an independent crypto analyst, told Reuters.

The report also took note of cryptocurrency lawyer Preston Byrne's blog post on January 10, which predicted a 90 per cent probability of a civil lawsuit opposing the coin within the next 14 days. 

“Someone will lose money, some lawyer will come up with a theory and file. The meme coin launch is, from a purely political perspective, an enormous unforced error,” he wrote. Byrne did not respond to Reuters' queries, it added.

On the status of conflict of interest due to the billionaire president's various business ventures, the Trump Organization said Donald Trump would hand daily management of his real estate, hotel, golf, media and licensing portfolio to his children when he enters the White House, the Reuters report added.

(With inputs from Agencies)