Incoming first lady Melania Trump has launched a cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband’s inauguration as US president.
The announcement comes after President-elect Donald Trump launched the $Trump cryptocurrency. Both coins have risen but have seen volatile trade.
“The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now,” she posted on the social platform X on Sunday.
The website for the “Official Melania Meme” says it is a crypto asset created and tracked on the Solana blockchain.
Disclaimers on the websites of both the $Trump and $Melania coins said they were “not intended to be, or the subject of” an investment opportunity or a security.
According to the CoinMarketCap website, $Trump has a total market valuation of about $12bn (£9.8bn), while $Melania’s stands at around $1.7bn.
Trump had previously called crypto a “scam” but during the 2024 election campaign became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations.
On the campaign trail, Trump also said he would create a strategic bitcoin stockpile and appoint financial regulators that take a more positive stance towards digital assets.
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That spurred expectations that he would strip back regulations on the crypto industry.
In the wake of Trump’s victory, bitcoin jumped to a record high and is currently trading at around $107,000, according to crypto trading platform Coinbase.
On Friday, the incoming artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto tsar David Sacks held a “Crypto Ball” in Washington, DC.
Other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin – which has been promoted by high-profile Trump supporter Elon Musk – have also risen sharply this year.
Under President Joe Biden, regulators cited concerns about fraud and money laundering as they cracked down on crypto companies by suing exchanges.
SOURCE: BBCNEWS
