Author: Lila, BlockBeats
On January 18, US President Trump launched his personal official meme coin TRUMP on social media platforms, immediately igniting the crypto market. This is the first time a national leader has issued a personal token, and within 5 hours of its launch, TRUMP's market cap exceeded $20 billion, with a peak market cap of nearly $80 billion. The president's coin issuance and the sustained pumping behavior for nearly 24 hours also brought enough heat to the "Trump Coin".
With blessings and curses intertwined, crypto native users have not yet enjoyed the new cash flow brought by the out-of-circle heat, and the negative impact has already followed. Under Trump's "leadership", more heads of state and celebrities from all walks of life have embarked on an unrestrained coin issuance frenzy. TRUMP itself has also exacerbated the already tight liquidity crisis in the crypto circle. Where there is a surge, there will be a sharp decline, and the bursting of the frenzy bubble comes faster than we imagine. One month after the token was launched, the TRUMP coin price has fallen from its peak of $80 to less than $13 as of the time of writing, a drop of more than 80%, while tokens such as Melania Trump's namesake meme coin MELANIA and the "Argentine President Coin" LIBRA have even fallen more than 90%.
In addition to celebrities directly issuing coins, the scammers have also found a new way: collaborating with celebrities, announcing token information, and then pretending their Twitter was hacked to absolve themselves. The well-known artist Kanye once said that someone offered $2 million for him to post a RUG pump meme coin. From January this year to the present, according to the incomplete statistics of BlockBeats editors, there have been no less than 15 celebrities from various fields who have launched tokens through various means. Except for TRUMP and STONKS, the rest have all fallen by more than 90%.
Celebrity Coin Issuance:
TRUMP (down 83.9% from peak)
Peak price: $82 Current price: $13.23
On January 18 this year, the official social media account of US President Trump announced the launch of the Trump-named meme coin TRUMP, followed by tweets from Trump's personal account and his son Eric Trump confirming the "legitimacy" of TRUMP. TRUMP was listed on top trading platforms such as OKX, Coinbase, and Binance within 24 hours of its launch, setting a record for the shortest time for a token to be listed on the spot market, and almost without any pullback after its release, the price surged to over $70 billion in 48 hours, with a circulating market cap of over $140 billion and a total market cap once exceeding $700 billion.
However, the issuance of TRUMP has blurred the boundaries between politics and business. According to its official website, two subsidiaries of the Trump Group control 80% of the total token supply, with an initial circulating supply of only 200 million, and the remaining 800 million will be gradually unlocked over the next three years. This highly centralized distribution model has been criticized by insiders and politicians as "legal counterfeiting", directly bringing the Trump family over $250 billion in paper wealth appreciation.
However, meme coins without value can ultimately not be supported, even if the coin is tied to the US president. After the peak, TRUMP has been slowly declining, briefly consolidating for a few days before "harvesting" all the way down, and is now in a slump, falling from a high of $80 to $13 as of the time of writing, a drop of over 80%. This result is both a refutation of the "policy bonus expectation" of the market and the inevitable result of excessive bloodletting of liquidity. Related reading: "Trump's coin issuance makes Chinese people earn a few billion, and the US crypto camp is divided as a result"
MELANIA (down 93.3% from peak)
Peak price: $13.6 Current price: $0.92
On January 20, after seeing the huge profits of TRUMP, the coin issuance group set its sights on Melania Trump, the First Lady, and issued the namesake meme coin MELANIA, with the FDV exceeding $10 billion and the trading volume reaching $658 million within 4 hours of its launch. However, the token's economic model has been widely criticized by the community: the team's share is 35%, the treasury is 20%, the community is 20%, the public offering is 15%, and the liquidity is 10%. The next day, MELANIA fell below $4, a drop of nearly 70% in 24 hours. This event not only accelerated the collapse of the TRUMP coin, but also revealed the capital logic of "family-style plunder".
In addition, the MELANIA team's tokens will start to be unlocked on February 19 and will be fully unlocked within the 13th month. Related reading: "Two days before taking office, the Trump couple cashed out $65 billion from the crypto circle"
VINE (down 92.2% from peak)
Peak price: $0.49 Current price: $0.037
On January 23, Rus Yusupov, one of the co-founders of the short video platform Vine, issued the namesake meme coin VINE. Vine was a short video platform similar to TikTok that was shut down by X (formerly Twitter) in 2016, allowing users to create and share video clips up to 10 seconds long. Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter in 2022, he has repeatedly expressed the desire to relaunch Vine on social media.
Yusupov said "I launched this meme coin to commemorate the beauty of unity and creation. I will not sell my Dev token share, and all profits will be donated to X". Possibly influenced by the expectation that "Musk will interact with it", VINE's market cap once exceeded $400 million.
Ainti (down 94.23% from peak)
Peak price: $1.06 Current price: $0.065
On January 23, the X account of the late antivirus software founder John McAfee posted the AI meme coin AIntivirus (Ainti) token contract. Reportedly, the tweet was forwarded by McAfee's widow Janice Elizabeth McAfee, who said the move was to commemorate her husband's genius image and carry on his legacy, with the new project combining McAfee's core concepts of freedom, privacy and technology with cryptocurrency and AI technology. (Note: John McAfee died in a Spanish prison on June 23, 2021.)
CAR (down 98.33% from peak)
Peak price: $0.88 Current price: $0.015
On February 10, the President of the Central African Republic launched the meme coin CAR. 3 hours after its launch, CAR's market cap exceeded $600 million, with a trading volume of over $300 million. According to the CAR token website, the total supply is 1 billion tokens, but the public distribution is only 9.3%.
Coins Launched After "Hacked" Social Accounts:
CUBA (down 99.36% from peak)
Peak price: $0.02 Current price: $0.0001
On January 20, the official X account of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after being hacked, promoted the meme token CUBA, with the original post deleted on the same day. CUBA plummeted 99.36% within 24 hours.
FINN (down 99% from peak)
Peak price: $0.009 Current price: $0.00001
On January 21, the Farcaster account of MetaMask co-founder Dan Finlay was hacked and used to promote the meme coin FINN. The meme coin rugged on the same day, with the creator's initial funds likely coming from a mixer, netting over 1,000 SOL in profits.
STONKS (down 53.3% from peak)
Peak price: $0.078 Current price: $0.036
On January 23, the official X account of Nasdaq was hacked and posted about the meme coin STONKS. The post was quickly deleted, causing STONKS' market cap to be halved. However, STONKS has gradually recovered under the community's stewardship and established a strong consensus, which is an important reason for its relatively more resilient coin price compared to other tokens.
BRAIZIL (down 99.7% from peak)
Peak price: $0.021 Current price: $0.0005
On January 24, the X account of the former President of Brazil was hacked and used to post the meme coin BRAIZIL representing Brazil. The original post was deleted within a short time, and the token price plummeted accordingly.
TIME (down 97.8% from peak)
Highest price: 0.13 Current price at the time of writing: 0.0003
On January 31, the official Twitter account of TIME magazine was hacked, and information about the TIME token was posted. The tweet was later deleted, and the token price plummeted rapidly.
DAILY (98% down from its all-time high)
Highest price: 0.003 Current price at the time of writing: 0.00006
On February 2, the official Twitter account of the UK's Daily Mail newspaper promoted the meme coin DAILY. After the coin reached its peak market capitalization, the Daily Mail deleted the related tweet, causing the token price to crash.
MALAYSIA (99.56% down from its all-time high)
Highest price: 0.003 Current price at the time of writing: 0.00001
On February 5, the X account of former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was hacked, and multiple tweets promoting the meme token MALAYSIA were posted. According to Slow Mist's monitoring, the creator of the CA was associated with a historical malicious group.
Celebrity Involvement in Token Promotion:
JAILSTOOL (92.76% down from its all-time high)
Highest price: 0.21 Current price at the time of writing: 0.015
On February 8, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy participated in the promotion of the meme token JAILSTOOL. Barstool Sports started as a small sports newspaper that Dave distributed on the subway, and later grew into a multi-million dollar business empire. Dave is also a social media celebrity in the US, known for his sharp pizza reviews and crazy sports bets.
In recent years, he has started to get involved in cryptocurrencies, often buying tokens on Solana and sharing his trades on Twitter. On February 8, Dave bought $200 worth of JAILSTOOL. At first, people didn't pay much attention, but he found the token very interesting and told investors he wouldn't sell and would continue to increase his position. JAILSTOOL's price skyrocketed due to his tweet, reaching a market capitalization of $150 million in just 3 hours.
LIBRA (97.3% down from its all-time high)
Highest price: 4.53 Current price at the time of writing: 0.12
On February 15, the President of Argentina promoted the meme coin LIBRA, whose market capitalization exceeded $4 billion at its peak. However, after Milei deleted the tweet, LIBRA's market value plummeted, and the team behind it cashed out over $100 million. More than 20 LIBRA traders lost over $1 million, with the biggest loser losing over $5 million. As of now, the insider allegations surrounding the LIBRA issuance have not been fully resolved.
Additionally, the famous American rapper Kanye West announced last week that he would launch his own official meme coin YEEZY, stating that "YEEZY is intended to create a true currency." However, just yesterday, Kanye suddenly announced that he would temporarily leave X, and the coin launch plan may be stalled.
Summary
The crypto frenzy around TRUMP ultimately ended in a tragic outcome of over 370,000 people being liquidated and $1 billion in losses. Overall, although celebrity-backed coin launches have attracted significant market attention, their brief high fever has also exposed the fragility of the market. If you can't keep up, you'll be mercilessly harvested. When the celebrity aura fades, what's left is not only the steep rise and fall curves on the K-line charts, but also the ultimate interrogation of the decentralization ideal: if the crypto world becomes a puppet of power and traffic, has its promise to disrupt the traditional world already become a hollow narrative? The answer may lie in the silence before the next bubble rises.
