October 22, 2025

The architects of the cryptocurrency launched by Melania Trump in January were accused in court filings on Tuesday of organizing the grift, knowing that the digital currency's value would plummet -- and as any reasonably sentient being could predict. Via Barrons:

The $MELANIA coins were released for just a few cents each on January 19, the day before her husband Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States.

Within hours, the $MELANIA coin's price had soared to $13.73.

However, it then collapsed almost as quickly, and is now only worth around 10 cents -- less than one percent of its peak price.

In newly filed court papers, investors accuse the executives of the Meteora cryptocurrency exchange platform, on which $MELANIA was initially traded, of setting up a scheme that allowed them to indirectly purchase large quantities of this virtual coin.

Their accomplices then quickly resold these digital currencies, pocketing substantial profits while causing the price to plummet, according to documents filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court and initially reported by the news website Wired.

I thought running up the price and then making it crash was the whole point! Am I missing something?

Just waiting for my Melania meme coin to climb above $1 and then we’ll see who’s got the jokes 😂

Jake Lahut (@jakelahut.writes.news) 2025-09-09T13:57:26.701Z

Crypto must die.

There is really nothing of value in it. It's gambling in the best case, and it has no legal use case to burn the energy of a country.

That said, whoever invested in a $TRUMP or $MELANIA meme coin in 2025 probably would have burned the money anyway one way or the other.

Grumpy 💙 European 🪶 (@klausbusse.de) 2025-08-30T10:20:41.358Z

If you bought the $TRUMP meme coin when it was at its highest price, you have now lost 88% of your money

BUT...if you bought the $MELANIA coin, you lost 98% of your investment

Some traders made $100M by buying the coin shortly before it was publicly announced, then selling at its peak

Grifters

Laurie Loves Data (@laurelann.bsky.social) 2025-08-25T01:16:42.494Z

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