Fake TRUMP and MELANIA Tokens Raise $4.8M in 24 Hours

Memecoins bearing the name of US President Donald Trump have increased in popularity in the days leading up to the inauguration, when lucky traders impersonated the symbols of Trump Official (TRUMP) and Melania Official (Melania) on the Solana network.

In the year On January 20, thousands of new memecoins that could be traded commercially were launched on Solana, according to data obtained by Cointelegraph from aggregator Birdeye.

61 of them identified themselves as “TRUMP” or “MELANIA” coins through their ticker, official branding and project descriptions.

These tokens generated $4.8 million from 12,641 wallets in one day. For this analysis, only those that clearly resembled the originals were considered, with clear tokens of satire or self-responsibility excluded.

These tokens represent a sample size of the number of counterfeit tokens entering the market. Security firm Blockaid has confirmed that the number of malicious tokens launched under the name “Trump” has increased from 3,300 to 6,800 every day.

Alan Orwick, founder of the Layer-1 blockchain project Kwai Network, told Cointelegraph that these tokens reflect fraudsters using high-profile brands to deceive unsuspecting investors about the hype behind the original tokens.

“Many tokens are showing signs of a potential carpet drag, with high trading volumes with little to no liquidity or fundamental value,” Orwick said.

Such flip coins indicate artificially inflated numbers to attract buyers. Others have had their liquidity drained by creators, leaving investors with unsaleable tokens.

Investors can lose their money for all 61 virtual tokens.

At the time of analysis, 38 fake TRUMP tokens were traded on Solana DEXs with 23 MELANIA tokens.

Only nine of the TRUMP tokens had at least $10,000 in their liquidity pools. Low liquidity often hampers trade, exposing buyers to high volatility and price manipulation.

Over the next 24 hours, six of these tokens lost their liquidity pools entirely, effectively pulling investors away. The seventh token liquidation pool saw its price drop from $54,000 to just $10,000.

The liquidity of the remaining two fake TRUMP tokens remained intact. But one experienced zero transaction volume in the next 24 hours, while the other had 99% of its supply controlled by the two wallets.

Meanwhile, four Melania Token clones had more than $10,000 in liquidity at the time of analysis, while two others had their liquidity removed.

Within 24 hours, one of the liquid pools was gone. The remaining three showed high ownership concentrations, leaving small investors vulnerable to sales by majority holders.

Some tokens with high market capitalization or fully diluted (FDV) can mislead investors, which Steno Research Senior Crypto Analyst Mads Eberhardt warns are vulnerable to fraud.

“I don't believe in other similar metrics associated with cryptocurrencies,” Eberhardt told Cointelegraph. “They have strong incentives to artificially inflate their metrics to appear legitimate.”

Official TRUMP token rises before tanking.

The official TRUMP memecoin was launched in 2015. It launched on January 17th and quickly exploded to $71 billion in FDV, briefly placing it as the 15th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

However, since Trump's inauguration as president on January 20, his FDV has dropped significantly to $40 billion, dropping him to 28th in market capitalization, according to CoinGecko.

President Trump has come under fire on social media, with people accusing him of launching his memecoin just for profit, but Melania's subsequent tokenization doubled down on the trend.

“Essentially, we had an informal rule that presidents would not start or run businesses that could cause a conflict of interest. The creation of more memecoins and DeFi protocols opens the door to widespread violations of the emoluments clause, Castle Island Ventures partner Nick Carter said on X.

Billionaire Dogecoin (DOGE) advocate Mark Cuban said: “Goodbye, despite the crypto industry's hopes of legitimizing itself.”

RELATED: Allegations of insider trading emerge as TRUMP memecoin floods Solana DEXs.

So far, Trump and Melania are the only official tokens, but some have reportedly made additional losses by creating tokens bearing the names of other family members.

According to Onchain Analytics Firm Lookonchain, an investor named BARRON lost nearly $1 million after referring to one of Trump's sons.

In the year Even before he won the November 2024 election, investors were falling prey to fake Trump tokens. In August, a fake Trump Token reached $150 million in trading volume before Eric Trump publicly denied its authenticity or any family connection.

Speculators bank on the next trump memecoin lottery

The Trump entity affiliated with CIC Digital, a crypto wallet that holds 80% of the official TRUMP supply, is accepting transfers of tokens named after other members of the TRUMP family.

One named himself “Official Ivanka Trump,” prompting speculation that a new official memecoin startup is poised to create more overnight millionaires, though there is no official confirmation of the authenticity of these projects.

Scammers thrive on FOMO (fear of missing out), targeting inexperienced investors by associating them with trending events, said Quay Network's Orwick. These plans often pressure buyers into hasty decisions, leaving them with undervalued properties.

Meanwhile, recent moves from Trump-linked decentralized finance platform World Freedom Finance (WLF) fueled further speculation.

On January 19, blockchain data revealed that WLF had purchased several Ethereum Name Service (ENS) domains, including barontrump.eth, erictrump.eth, and trumpcoin.eth. It even found unrelated domains like yatogame.eth and daolationship.eth.

Global Freedom Finance itself has been a sham, with fake websites selling a variety of products to defrauded victims, including fake tokens and dummy financial services.

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