The launch of Donald Trump and Melania Trump’s memecoins brought significant attention to Solana but also sparked network disruptions, raising concerns among long-term investors.
Trump Memecoins Overwhelm Solana Network
The Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin debuted on January 18, followed by the Official Melania (MELANIA) token on January 19. Both launches occurred on the Solana network, just days before Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration on January 20.
The sudden influx of trading activity caused congestion on the Solana blockchain. Reports indicated that Solana’s blockchain explorer had not recorded new transactions for at least 30 minutes before 9:43 pm UTC on January 19. Some users experienced “500 Internal Server Errors” when using Solscan, highlighting the strain on the network.
Although Solana has maintained 100% uptime since February 2024, the recent congestion reignited debates about its scalability and the monolithic versus modular blockchain architecture. These discussions stem from a February 2024 outage when block production halted, forcing validators to restart the network.
Red Flags in Trump Memecoin Distributions
While the Trump family’s memecoins gained mainstream traction, their tokenomics have raised serious concerns among investors.
The MELANIA token’s website claimed that 35% of the tokens were allocated to the project team, with 20% each for the treasury and the community, 15% for public sale, and 10% for liquidity. However, blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps revealed that nearly 90% of the token supply was held in a single wallet, contradicting the published distribution.
The MELANIA token launch is linked to “melaniameme.com,” a website owned by MKT World, a company established by Melania Trump in 2021. Records show it shares an address with the Trump International Golf Club in Florida, raising questions about transparency and governance.
Market Volatility Hits TRUMP Token
The release of the MELANIA token triggered significant volatility in the TRUMP token market. Within 40 minutes of MELANIA’s launch, TRUMP’s market cap plunged by $5 billion, with its price falling 38% from $74.60 to $45.90, according to CoinMarketCap data.
As of 9:08 am UTC, the TRUMP token had partially recovered, trading at $57.50, but was still down 3.3% over the past 24 hours.
Despite the attention generated by the Trump memecoins, concerns about token allocation, network performance, and market volatility cast a shadow over their long-term viability, leaving many investors cautious about their prospects.
