What are the $Trump and $Melania? All you need to know about incoming presidential couple's new crypto tokens

Melania Trump has introduced her own cryptocurrency hours before her husband, President-elect Donald Trump, was due to appear in Washington, DC for his second inauguration.

Ms Trump revealed the "Official Melania Meme" $Melania in a post on X (previously Twitter) on Sunday, adding: “You can buy $Melania now.”

It comes a day after Mr Trump announced the introduction of the meme coin $Trump on his social media platform Truth Social, telling his followers: “It's time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!”

Mr Trump is now a supporter of the decentralised currency and pledged during the campaign that he would move quickly to make the United States the “crypto capital” of the world.

He also vowed that he would establish a cryptocurrency “czar” for his government, implement industry-friendly regulations, and build up a US cryptocurrency stockpile.

Bitcoin reached a record high of up four per cent at $109,071 on Monday morning as speculators placed bets that the incoming president would support the sector once he took office.

The market value of Mr Trump's coin has now surpassed $5 billion (£4 billion).

Following its launch on Friday night, the price of the $Trump token more than tripled to over $70 (£57), bringing its market capitalisation to around $10.7 billion (£8.7 billion). However, when his wife launched her own currency on Sunday, Mr Trump’s token experienced a brief decline of about 40 per cent, dropping from $74 to $38.

Meanwhile, the $MELANIA coin quickly gained a significant market capitalization, launching with a market cap of approximately $1.9 billion.

What is $Trump?

$Trump is a cryptocurrency created by Mr Trump with branding including an image from his attempted assassination in July.

$Trump was trading at $58.56 Monday morning.

The token immediately entered the top 20 cryptocurrencies. Blockchain specialists claimed that because of the size of the digital stampede, traders liquidated their current holdings to invest in Mr Trump's token, draining liquidity from the rest of the market and driving down the value of other coins.

Fight Fight Fight LLC, a Delaware-based business that was established earlier this month, and CIC Digital LLC own 80 per cent of the tokens. How much Trump could profit from this venture is unknown.

Some have praised Mr Trump’s support for an industry that felt unfairly targeted by the Biden administration.

To honour the first “crypto president” prominent business figures hosted the first-ever “Crypto Ball” on Friday. Tickets for the event were several thousand dollars, and it was completely sold out.

However, it has also fuelled criticisms of attempts to profit personally from political office and worries about conflicts of interest. During his presidential campaign, Mr Trump issued batches of cryptocurrency trading cards, making almost $4 million (£3.2 million) for each one.

In 2024, his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump also started a cryptocurrency business called World Liberty Financial, raising questions about a clear conflict of interest.

What is $Melania?

$Melania is a cryptocurrency made by Ms Trump. $MELANIA's market capitalisation places it in the top 60 most valuable cryptocurrencies globally, per CoinMarketCap's tracker.

Ms Trump founded the Florida business MKT World in 2021, and it is disbursing the token on the Solana blockchain platform.

Although there aren't many details available about the coin, according to Forbes, the website states that 35 per cent of its supply has been reserved by Ms Trump’s team and will be frozen for the first 30 days.