Melania Meme Coin Team Caught Secretly Dumping $30 Million in Tokens
Blockchain analytics company Bubblemaps reported Monday that over $30 million worth of Melania Meme (MELANIA) tokens have been moved and sold without public explanation. The Solana-based cryptocurrency, connected to U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, saw funds taken from community reserves according to on-chain analysis.
The investigation revealed 50 million MELANIA tokens were transferred to wallet "Cq2Tj6" before being distributed across multiple addresses. From there, more than $3 million went to centralized exchanges, two new $6 million positions were created, and $500,000 has already been sold off.
"No one from the MELANIA team has addressed this. Not the movements. Not the selling," Bubblemaps stated on X. This lack of transparency follows an earlier $2 million sell-off reported last week, which used single-sided liquidity.
The token movements come amid broader market turbulence following new U.S. tariff policies. Cryptocurrency prices fell sharply as Bitcoin dropped 6% to $77,883 and Ethereum fell 12% to $1,575, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index registering "extreme fear" in the market.
Hayden Davis, described as the "launch strategist" for MELANIA, has been linked to the token movements. Davis previously acknowledged launching both MELANIA and LIBRA tokens. Bubblemaps collaborated with YouTuber Coffeezilla to connect Davis to a network of wallets moving funds between various cryptocurrencies.
The analytics firm suggested Davis "may have seen the recent drop in attention as a window to quietly move funds while fewer people were watching." With team wallets controlling 92% of MELANIA supply, retail investors face significant risk.
Dominika Stobiecka, co-founder of token compliance platform Toku, told Decrypt that such behavior resembles traditional insider trading. She warned that these practices could turn cryptocurrency markets into a "rigged game" where:
- Retail investors lose confidence
- Market participation drops
- The entire system suffers
MELANIA now trades at $0.5488, down 95.4% from its launch-day high. Similarly, the Official Trump (TRUMP) token trades at $7.82, representing an 89.1% decline from its peak, according to CoinGecko data.
As MELANIA wallets continue offloading supply with no response from the team, Bubblemaps warns: "The damage isn't done yet."
