$MELANIA Launch Throws Solana Network Into Turmoil

Days after the historic $TRUMP launch, a second Trump cabal token rocks the Solana ecosystem.

Published: Jan 20, 2025 at 10:04
Edited: Jan 20, 2025 at 10:16

Buoyed by January 18th’s astronomic $TRUMP memecoin launch, the Trump cabal tried their luck with a second coin, $MELANIA.

Inspired by the launch, the incoming U.S. First Lady, $MELANIA sought to recreate $TRUMP’s viral success. However, while $MELANIA enjoyed high volumes and bullish action, the launch was plagued by controversy.

Why did $MELANIA cause a dramatic 50% drawdown in $TRUMP price and send $SOL crashing back to $200 in onchain markets?

Trump’s Crypto Team Launches Controversial Second Token

Following the sensational launch of the $TRUMP memecoin, the U.S. President’s crypto team wasted no time launching a second coin based on the Trump family. Despite the family’s newfound popularity among fresh retail traders, $MELANIA rocked market dynamics in ways they didn’t expect.

Trumpmelania

$MELANIA caused an instant outpouring of liquidity from the original $TRUMP token, with traders dumping their holdings to secure positions in the shiny new meme. The flow of liquidity from $TRUMP to $MELANIA inflicted a 56% drop on the former as $TRUMP plummeted from $73 to $31.

While $TRUMP was lauded as a triumphant milestone for the industry, the wider crypto community slandered $MELANIA as an extractive and unnecessary grift. The website for the memecoin was reportedly only created the day before launch, suggesting $MELANIA was an unplanned, rushed attempt to recreate a similar wealth creation event.

Adding more fuel to the fire, Bubblemaps, a popular analysis and security platform, reported that $MELANIA tokenomics didn’t match what was advertised on the coin’s official site. Anthony Pompliano, a prominent crypto influencer, asserted that the $MELANIA token was operated by a separate team from the original $TRUMP launch, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the asset.

Market participants are now speculating that the $MELANIA launch could inspire a litany of Trump-family tokens. Eric Trump kicked anticipation into overdrive, hinting that something big might be coming in the next 24 hours.

Solana Network Pulls Through Stress Test

The outpouring of liquidity from $TRUMP put heavy duress on the Solana network, with hundreds of thousands of dropped transactions and overwhelmed RPCs causing frustration and chaos across the network.

Essential services and protocols across the network suffered under the load, with both Jupiter and Jito reporting instability issues. Phantom, Solana’s most popular wallet provider, reported over 8M transaction requests. This is a remarkable feat, considering this statistic reflected activity from real, organic users as opposed to automated, onchain bots.

Tensor co-founder Richard Wu theorized that the near-overwhelming levels of load and congestion were due to traders taking profits and wiping out onchain $SOL liquidity pools.

sol priority fee

Heavy sell orders pushed $SOL price as low as $200 onchain, which prompted arbitrage bots to spam decentralized exchanges with transactions. Priority fees surged to all-time highs, with traders and DeFi users eagerly trying to force transactions through high congestion.

Fortunately, onchain markets quickly found balance, with $SOL stabilizing around $265. $TRUMP rebounded powerfully off the lows, exchanging hands at $51.95 at press time.