tl;dr
A Financial Times analysis reveals that insiders made nearly $100 million in profits from the MELANIA memecoin shortly after its market debut, with two dozen wallets buying $2.6 million worth of tokens minutes before Melania Trump's launch announcement. Most sales occurred within 12 hours, highlight...
Insiders reportedly earned over $150 million through pre-sale trades of Melania Trump’s MELANIA memecoin amid allegations of insider trading and rapid market manipulation.
A Financial Times analysis reveals that insiders made nearly $100 million in profits from the MELANIA memecoin shortly after its market debut, with two dozen wallets buying $2.6 million worth of tokens minutes before Melania Trump's launch announcement.
Most sales occurred within 12 hours, highlighting potential insider trading, though such tokens are currently exempt from federal insider-trading rules.
The wallets are possibly linked to crypto entrepreneur Hayden Davis, who denies profiting.
Organizers through MKT World LLC withdrew $64.7 million from sales and fees.
The token saw extreme volatility, causing network congestion on Solana and significant trading volumes.
Prior Melania Trump digital ventures faced scrutiny for wash trading and ethical concerns.
The price stabilized around $0.32 with ongoing token unlocks, illustrating challenges in politically branded crypto assets and regulatory gaps.
According to Financial Times analysis, a small cohort of traders secured nearly $100 million in profits from Melania Trump’s MELANIA token within minutes of its market debut.
Its on-chain analysis suggests that two dozen digital wallets purchased $2.6 million worth of tokens less than three minutes before Trump’s Jan. 19 post on Truth Social announced the coin’s launch.
The subsequent price surge enabled rapid liquidation, with 81% of the sales executed within 12 hours.
The MELANIA token’s release followed President Donald Trump’s TRUMP coin launch two days earlier without similar pre-announcement activity.
While TRUMP’s distribution began seconds after its official disclosure, the early activity in MELANIA’s case highlights the potential for exploitation during memecoin launches.
These tokens, devoid of utility beyond dinner with the president, operate as speculative instruments and are exempt from securities regulations.
Per the SEC’s current view, such trades fall outside federal insider-trading rules.
The wallets involved in the pre-launch accumulation of MELANIA are possibly linked to Texas-based crypto entrepreneur Hayden Davis, previously associated with the controversial LIBRA token tied to Argentina’s President Javier Milei.
Davis denies profiting from the MELANIA release.
Organizers behind MELANIA, operating through Delaware-based MKT World LLC, have reportedly withdrawn $64.7 million in primary sales and fees, separate from the $99.6 million amassed by early traders.
MKT World, previously used by Melania Trump for various ventures since 2021, has yet to clarify its precise role or profit-sharing structure.
The First Lady has not commented publicly on the token’s market activity or governance.
Volatility around MELANIA has been marked by prior controversies and trading frenzies linked to Trump-family-branded tokens.
In the first 24 hours after futures trading launched, perpetual trading across TRUMP and MELANIA exceeded $50 billion, with MELANIA-USDT open interest spiking 56% in just 90 minutes.
Solana’s network struggled under the load, recording 10 million transactions and $1.25 billion in volume, while services such as Phantom and Coinbase faced throttling due to congestion.
Weeks later, developer-linked wallets were traced selling over 31 million MELANIA through unilateral liquidity provisioning, driving a steep drop from a peak of $13 to $0.38 before a modest recovery.
Prior ventures involving Melania Trump’s digital initiatives faced scrutiny including allegations of wash trading tied to her “Head of State” NFT in 2022 and an NFT-based philanthropy pitch announced in 2024 targeting foster care programs.
The rapid and lucrative trading around MELANIA reflects the volatility of politically connected tokens.
Similar wallet patterns emerged in the LIBRA scandal, suggesting a recurring strategy of leveraging high-profile figures for crypto speculation.
Ethical concerns have emerged, with former CFTC chair Tim Massad calling presidential family involvement in commercial tokens “plainly wrong” due to potential conflicts of interest.
The price of MELANIA stabilized at approximately $0.32 as of May 5, placing the 800 million tokens retained by organizers at a notional valuation near $260 million.
The token’s unlock schedule began on Feb. 19, releasing 3% of the supply, with monthly distributions of 2.25% planned thereafter.
Despite regulatory gaps and anonymity on-chain, the episode illustrates the growing complexity surrounding political branding in digital assets and the challenges facing retail participants in rapidly evolving crypto markets.