According to a report from Arkham Intelligence, Melania insider wallets have become active again.

In the transactions flagged by Arkham, the wallet in question sent $1.87M MELANIA to a fresh wallet from its 50M MELANIA (5% of supply from the MELANIA team). The transaction could imply the wallet is preparing to offload more tokens, as Arkham notes that previous distributions from the same address were deposited to Kraken and sold via Meteora.

Donald Trump and Crypto

Donald Trump won the election after campaigning as a pro-crypto president. Since then, he has launched a meme and ran an airdrop for his loyal supporters. His wife, First Lady Melania Trump, also launched a meme of her own, with other political figures like Javier Milei of Argentina linked to the $Libra token launch.

Unfortunately, these launches have benefited the parties behind them, leading many to label them as pump and dump schemes.

MELANIA insider wallets active again

According to a report from Arkham, Melania insider wallets have become active again, suggesting a significant event may be forthcoming, possibly involving a token dump.

A transaction between the Melania team wallet and a new wallet received $1.87M MELANIA. Arkham’s post highlights that the wallet in question received 50M MELANIA, which is 5% of the supply from the Melania team, and has just sent $1.87M MELANIA to a new wallet. This might indicate preparations for further token sales, as prior distributions from this address were deposited to Kraken and sold via Meteora.

Arkham tweeted, “The vesting schedule for MELANIA is brief, with the first unlocks occurring 30 days after launch (19/02/2025), making today the end of Month 2. 2.25% of MELANIA supply is linearly vested every month.”

User comments suggested skepticism about the intentions behind this news, with many believing that someone on Melania’s team might be preparing to sell on meme holders again.

Despite recent growing adoption for BTC and crypto in general, multiple high-profile rug pulls have left newcomers anxious, forcing many experienced investors to acknowledge the “crypto” frenzy ignited by Trump may tarnish the industry’s reputation as an alternative monetary system.

The Launches of $TRUMP, $MELANIA & $LIBRA

The wave of political figures launching memes began when the POTUS created one himself. This incited a frenzy on Solana, as degens swiftly reallocated assets into the meme.

The immediate effect saw the market cap of $TRUMP peak above $15 billion; however, it crashed by 40%, erasing $7.5 billion in minutes after the First Lady launched $MELANIA.

Traders sold $TRUMP to purchase $MELANIA, leading to a dramatic drop where $TRUMP’s daily trading volume fell from $36 billion to $3.5 billion, and its price plummeted to $26.80 from a high of $73.43 by late January.

A similar scenario occurred with the $MELANIA token launched shortly after $TRUMP, less than 12 hours before Trump’s inauguration, triggering speculation.

ARKHAM ALERT: Melania INSIDER WALLETS DISTRIBUTING $MELANIA
A wallet that received 50M MELANIA (5% of supply) from the Melania Team sent $1.87M MELANIA to a new wallet, with past distributions from this address being sold on platforms like Kraken.

Many $TRUMP initial buyers enjoyed massive returns and thought they had a chance too, prompting them to jump in. Following release, the token’s price skyrocketed by 24,000%, peaking around $13, raising its market cap to almost $1.8 billion.

However, this surge was short-lived. $MELANIA subsequently dropped by 80% from its peak, settling at $0.76 by mid-February. Analysts raised concerns about token distribution and the intentions behind it, as it resembled concentration issues similar to those observed with the Trump token.

After both tokens’ successes, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a Bitcoin supporter, endorsed the $LIBRA token on social media as a private initiative to support Argentina’s economy. Its price instantly soared from $0 to nearly $5, but soon collapsed over 80% as insider wallets liquidated over $107 million in tokens right after launch. The fallout led to an impeachment request against Milei.

A token named $CAR, launched by the president of the Central African Republic on February 9, also shared characteristics with $TRUMP’s pump and dump, experiencing a cap of $800 million before dropping 84% amidst scam accusations.

All these events made headlines, blurring lines between established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and speculative pump-and-dump tokens.

According to estimates, these new tokens drained substantial liquidity from Solana’s market, with $TRUMP and $CAR estimated to have removed between $3.6 billion and $6.6 billion from Solana’s memecoin ecosystem. Analysts reported $LIBRA extracted at least $250 million alone.

As new memetokens launch and experience rugged, Solana’s reputation continues to tarnish. The value extraction from these projects has contributed to a downturn, with active addresses and transactions dropping while SOL’s value has decreased by around 40% as mistrust spreads.