Inside the $MELANIA Token Launch: A $99.6M Pre-Release Windfall

The $MELANIA cryptocurrency token launch saw savvy traders secure nearly $100 million in profits by buying moments before its public announcement, analysis reveals.

Key Takeaways

A small group of traders made $99.6 million buying the $MELANIA token minutes before its official unveiling on January 19th.
Two dozen digital wallets acquired $2.6 million worth of the tokens in the two and a half minutes preceding Melania Trump's social media post.
These early buyers rapidly sold off most of their holdings, with 81% unloaded within 12 hours as the price surged post-announcement.
While crypto transactions are traceable on blockchains, the identities behind the wallets involved typically remain anonymous.
Unlike the $TRUMP token launch, $MELANIA saw significant buying activity before it was publicly announced.
One wallet spent $681,000 just 64 seconds before the announcement, eventually realizing over $43 million in profit.
Entities behind the $MELANIA launch itself have withdrawn around $64.7 million from fees and primary sales, separate from the early traders' windfall.
Crypto entrepreneur Hayden Davis, previously linked to the controversial $LIBRA coin, confirmed involvement in the $MELANIA launch.
Memecoins like $MELANIA lack regulatory oversight applicable to securities, leaving insider dealing rules unenforceable.¹

The Pre-Launch Windfall

A Financial Times analysis uncovered a significant financial event surrounding the launch of the $MELANIA cryptocurrency token: traders secured a $99.6 million windfall by purchasing tokens just before Melania Trump announced the project on social media late on January 19th. This happened mere hours before Donald Trump's presidential inauguration.
The critical window was incredibly narrow. In the two and a half minutes before Mrs. Trump's post appeared on Truth Social, 24 distinct digital wallets collectively bought $2.6 million worth of $MELANIA tokens directly from the marketplace where they were initially deposited.
The strategy paid off handsomely when the public announcement triggered a price surge. The early buyers didn't hold on for long, capitalizing quickly on the momentum; data shows 81 percent of their sales occurred within the first 12 hours after the launch.
One particularly striking transaction involved a single wallet purchasing $681,000 worth of the memecoin only 64 seconds before the public reveal. This account managed to generate $39 million in profit within 24 hours by selling most of its holdings, adding another $4.4 million over the subsequent three days from the remainder.
In total, these 24 wallets acquired 16.7 million $MELANIA tokens, representing a significant portion of the 200 million tokens slated for sale during the launch period, effectively front-running the public market.

Memecoin Mechanics & Anonymity

The $MELANIA token is classified as a memecoin, a category of cryptocurrency known more for speculative trading than any underlying utility or function.² Its launch followed that of Donald Trump's $TRUMP token by about two days, highlighting a trend within Trump family and associate circles towards crypto ventures.
Memecoin launches often allow prices to skyrocket from virtually zero if public interest surges rapidly.³ This dynamic creates opportunities for enormous profits for those who buy very early, a practice crypto enthusiasts sometimes refer to as "sniping".
Crucially, memecoins operate in a regulatory grey area in the US. They are not typically treated as securities, meaning the standard federal disclosure requirements and insider dealing rules designed to protect retail investors from unfair practices do not apply to their promoters.⁴
While blockchain technology provides a transparent ledger of all transactions, the ownership of the digital wallets conducting these trades remains pseudonymous.⁵ It's possible to see the flow of funds but generally not who is ultimately controlling the accounts involved.

Comparing $MELANIA and $TRUMP Launches

The launch dynamics between the $MELANIA and $TRUMP tokens differed significantly in one key aspect: pre-announcement activity. Analysis showed no comparable pre-announcement purchases when the $TRUMP token went live; the first recorded sale occurred 42 seconds after its public announcement.
For $MELANIA, however, the buying frenzy began before the official reveal and continued immediately after. In the 42 seconds following Melania Trump's post, an additional 22 accounts purchased roughly $900,000 worth of the tokens, adding to the volume acquired just moments earlier.
The organizers behind each token also appear distinct, employing different processes and achieving different financial outcomes. Previous FT analysis indicated that entities launching $TRUMP earned at least $350 million from token sales and market-making fees.⁶
In contrast, the entities responsible for launching $MELANIA (separate from the early trading wallets) have so far withdrawn an estimated $64.7 million derived from fees and the initial sale of tokens. The retained stock of 800 million $MELANIA coins, not part of the initial public sale, held a notional value of $265.9 million based on its recent trading price of $0.33.

Key Players and Connections

The official $MELANIA coin website lists MKT World LLC, a Delaware firm used by Melania Trump since 2021, as the marketer.⁷ However, the project's terms don't specify if MKT World is the issuer or how profits are distributed among involved parties. Melania Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
Hayden Davis, a 28-year-old Texas-based crypto entrepreneur, publicly stated his involvement in the $MELANIA launch. Davis was also linked to the $LIBRA memecoin, which caused controversy in Argentina following an endorsement by President Javier Milei and subsequent price volatility.⁸
Intriguingly, the very first wallet to purchase $MELANIA before the announcement (buying $40,000 worth 141 seconds prior and making $2.5 million profit within two hours) was funded via an account previously associated with Davis's ventures, a finding confirmed by the FT and crypto analytics platform Bubblemaps.
Despite this connection and the massive profits taken by early traders, Davis asserted in an interview with crypto journalist Stephen Findeisen (Coffeezilla) that, "There was no money made from the Melania team. We didn’t take any liquidity out. Zero." Davis has since become less public, with company websites taken down following the $LIBRA issues.

The $MELANIA token launch highlights the potential for enormous, rapid gains in the unregulated memecoin space, particularly for those with advance knowledge. It raises significant questions about fairness and transparency in these highly speculative markets.