Trump, Melania Launch Meme Coins. How Many Billions They're Worth as Cryptos Soar. — Barrons.com

By Elsa OhlenPresident-elect Donald Trump and his wife Melania both launched cryptos ahead of his return to the White House in what is largely being taken as a positive sign for the digital asset market as a whole.Bitcoin and the price of other tokens rallied in early trading before crypto-friendly Trump's inauguration later Monday.The returning president announced the arrival of his $TRUMP meme coin in posts on X and his own social-media platform Truth Social Friday night. The token was trading at $56.18 early Monday, according to CoinDesk, and soared after it was unveiled.About 80% of the coin's supply is owned by an affiliate of the Trump Organization, Fight Fight Fight and CIC Digital, which has drawn criticism from within and outside the crypto industry, according to Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reports.There were $200 million Trump coins available on day one. The supply will grow to 1 billion over three years, according to the website associated with the token.The coins sold for about $3 each before Trump publicly announced the digital token on Friday evening, according to CoinDesk data.It soared to a high of $76.94 in the following hours, briefly hitting a market value of $15 billion — of which about $12 billion was held by three wallets linked to Trump.That the majority of the coin is linked to the president-elect may spark fears of a so-called "Trump and dump," but it's important to recognize the broader significance of this moment, Henry Duckworth, CEO of AgriDex, a digital marketplace, noted."The fact that the world's most powerful man has launched his own branded cryptocurrency 2 days before his inauguration sends a clear message: blockchain technology will become deeply interwoven into America's financial future this year," Duckworth wrote.The Trump coin is "intended to function as an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol '$TRUMP'," the meme's website states. "Join a piece of history," the website says.Separately, Trump's wife Melania launched a rival token in a social media post Sunday: $MELANIA. The value of the soon-to-be first lady's coin also soared. It's up about 800% and was last trading at $0.035 according to CoinDesk. It hit a high of $0.810 in the past few hours.Trump's inauguration is scheduled for noon Eastern time. He has said he would make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world and create a national reserve of Bitcoin, which has delighted crypto investors.Bitcoin and the price of other cryptocurrencies rallied early Monday, just hours before Trump's return to the White House, driven by the Trump and Melania coin launches according to analysts.Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter said that the new coins are being taken as a sign that Trump's promise to promote cryptos will be honored, and digital assets are expected to move more into the financial mainstream. "Nevertheless, investors should be mindful of getting carried away in a wave of speculation, with money they can't afford to lose," she writes.The world's largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is up 3.9% over the last 24 hours to last trade at $108,086, according to CoinDesk data. The price hit $109,135 a few hours earlier — a record high.Most major cryptos were rising Monday. Ether is up 6.8% over the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk, while XRP is up 8.7% and Dogecoin is rising 4.5%.Solana is down 7.9% to $260 over the last 24 hours after a big jump in price Sunday where it neared $300. The Trump meme coin will be available on the Solana blockchain, benefitting the more established crypto. Despite the price drop in recent hours, Solana is trading about 20% higher than it did early Friday.Write to Elsa Ohlen at [email protected] content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.