Melania Meme Coin Team Sells $4.6M in Tokens Amid Price Crash, Sparking Investor Concerns
Melania Meme Coin Faces Scrutiny as Team-Linked Wallets Dump $4.6 Million in Tokens
The Solana-based meme coin MELANIA, inspired by former U.S. First Lady Melania Trump, is drawing mounting criticism after a series of high-volume token sell-offs by wallets allegedly linked to the project’s core team.
On May 3, blockchain analytics platform EmberCN reported that wallets associated with the MELANIA project liquidated nearly 10 million tokens—worth approximately $4.6 million—over the course of just eight days. These recent transactions are part of a broader pattern that has seen the wallets offload an estimated $23 million in tokens since mid-March.
A Pattern of Strategic Liquidation
According to EmberCN’s findings, the token sales appear to follow a strategic Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) approach, coupled with selective liquidity provisioning. This method minimizes the impact on MELANIA’s market price, allowing the project-linked wallets to quietly exit large positions without drawing immediate attention.
This isn’t the first sign of large-scale liquidations. In April, the same wallets reportedly exchanged 3 million MELANIA tokens for around 9,009 SOL—then valued at $1.2 million. The consistent unloading of tokens, particularly during a declining market, has amplified community concerns regarding the project's transparency and long-term intentions.
EmberCN further noted that a significant portion of the liquidated assets were converted into USDC (a stablecoin) and withdrawn—suggesting the team may be cashing out while investor confidence falters.
Investors Question Project Motives
The timing and scale of the sell-offs have fueled speculation that MELANIA may have been built more for brand-driven hype than genuine utility. Critics argue that the project capitalized on Melania Trump’s name during a media-rich moment—the January 2025 presidential inauguration—only to retreat as market interest declined.
Since its launch in early 2025, MELANIA gained initial momentum, but that excitement has since faded. Meme coins as a category have seen broader downturns in recent months, but MELANIA’s decline has been particularly steep. Data from BeInCrypto shows the token has dropped over 6% in the past 24 hours and 31% in the last week.
More dramatically, MELANIA has plunged roughly 97% from its all-time high of $13.70 on January 20, now trading at around $0.38.