Donald Trump’s wife Melania launches her own rival cryptocurrency — tanking the price of her husband’s coin by 50%

Melania Trump, wife of United States President-elect Donald Trump and son-to-be First Lady, launched her own meme coin $MELANIA early today January 20 (late Sunday US time). The move, tanked her husband’s meme coin $TRUMP briefly by 50 per cent, garnering traffic from the next President’s fans and crypto enthusiasts.

Melania Trump posted the announcements across social media just as Trump was about to start a rally in Washington celebrating his inauguration, declaring: “The official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now.”

Melania Tanks Donald Trump’s Crypto Coin By 50%

Notably, $MELANIA diverted investments away from Melania Trump‘s husband’s own crypto offering $TRUMP with the value nosediving by 50 per cent, as per reports.

Donald Trump‘s token fell to $41 each, before rising again. At time of writing, $TRUMP was trading at $47 with market cap of $9.82 billion an 83 per cent jump from the previous day, according to data on Coinmarketcap.

$MELANIA was trading for $0.1702 each — a meteoric 3035.16 per cent rise with market cap of $7.31 million, at 7 am on January 20 (IST).

Donald Trump Pushes Crypto At Rally

Speaking at his rally, Trump called these moves “all investments” adding that “Bitcoin has shattered one record after another.” Thanks to the couple’s own cryptocurrency coins, Trump could already be the richest man in the world.

According to the CoinGecko, on paper, the Trump tokens in the market had a total trading value of nearly $13 billion before $MELANIA launched and was till that time the 19th most valuable form of crypto in the world.

For who owns the coins, Trump affiliates appear to control 800 million tokens besides the 200 million already release and this can unlock potential for as much as $51 billion, the CoinGecko report added.

Reactions to $TRUMP and $MELANIA Divided

While fans and crypto enthusiasts have hailed the “business savvy” of Donald Trump and his family with the crypto decisions, critics have called into question the ethics, and even conflict of interest arising from the assets.

Trump has promised to usher in crypto-friendly regulations and has a host of pro-crypto names nominated for place in his administration.

(With inputs from Agencies)