Analyst Discussion: $TRUMP & $MELANIA

On January 17th, President Donald Trump launched a memecoin on Solana, $TRUMP, which quickly reached a peak valuation of $76 billion within 48 hours. The surge was cut short when the First Lady launched her own token, $MELANIA, on January 19th. The new token pulled liquidity from $TRUMP, causing its price to drop from around $75 to $30 in under an hour.

Beyond the price movement, the launch had a broader impact on the crypto market. Solana recorded its highest daily DEX volume, with DeFiLlama reporting $85 billion in trading, though many users reported network congestion and failed transactions. Moonshot reportedly onboarded over 400,000 users in less than 24 hours, marking one of the largest single-day influxes of new participants onchain.

The response has been mixed. Some see it as a sign of growing adoption, with a U.S. president launching a token onchain and driving new user activity. Others point to the token’s distribution, with the Trump administration appearing to control 80% of the supply, raising concerns about insider allocations. The locked tokens are distributed across six entities, labeled “Creators and CIC Digital 1-6,” with lock-up periods ranging from 3 to 12 months. After this period, an initial unlock of either 10% or 25% will occur, followed by gradual daily releases over two years.

With the dust settling, the focus shifts to what this means for broader market dynamics and whether it signals a lasting shift or just another short-lived cycle.

Sunny Shi (@defi_monk)