$MELANIA Coin Crashes 90% Within Weeks; Anonymous Insiders Pocket $100M Pre-Launch

The $MELANIA memecoin, launched by the first lady's camp the day after $TRUMP, collapsed 90% from peak within weeks as the novelty drained. Bloomberg documented the plunge by February 6, 2025. Fortune later reported that a group of anonymous traders scored a $100 million payday by buying $MELANIA just before it launched publicly — wallets positioned ahead of retail, the signature of an insider-sniped launch. The two coins were marketed as rug-pull-proof: the Trump Organization affiliates' 80% stakes staggered over three years rather than dumped at once. Critics noted the framing: a slower rug is still a rug when the house controls four-fifths of the supply and collects fees on every trade.