Melania Trump launches new cryptocurrency on eve of husband's inauguration
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GB News
Melania Trump has launched a new cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband's inauguration as the 47th US President.
Her announcement followed the news that President-elect Donald Trump was launching his own $Trump currency on Friday.
Although both coins have risen in value, they have seen a volatile variation in their trade.
Taking to social media to make her announcement, Melania Trump posted on X, sharing: "The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now."
Melania Trump launches new cryptocurrency on eve of husband's inauguration
X
The official website for the "Official Melania Meme" explains that it is a cryptocurrency created and tracked on the Solana blockchain.
Websites for both the $Trump and $Melania coins included disclaimers that said that they were "not intended to be, or the subject of" an investment opportunity or security.
Currently, $Trump has a total market valuation of about $12billion (£9.8billion), while $Melania's is currently approximately $1.7billion, according to the CoinMarketCap website.
Trump had dubbed the currency a "scam" in the past - yet became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations for his campaign.
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In a tweet from 2019, Donald Trump said: "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.
"Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behaviour, including drug trade and other illegal activity."
Although meme coins have no transactional value, they are created to profit from current trends.
One of the most well-known meme coins is Dogecoin - initially launched as a joke, but it soon gained significant popularity after billionaire Elon Musk came out in support of the currency.
Now, it has become the seventh-largest cryptocurrency.
Donald and Melania Trump paid their respect to President Jimmy Carter earlier this month
REUTERS
The couple's meme coins have opened up the Republican for attacks regarding claims that he is taking advantage of his position, attempting to profit from his millions of followers.
Most recently, Trump advertised his coin to his 98.4 million followers on X last Friday while each coin was valued at around $7.
Its value hit a high of $75.35 on Sunday, later falling once Melania had launched her own coin.
The soon-to-be President is believed to sign an executive order later today to ease current regulations regarding cryptocurrencies.
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