Both TRUMP and MELANIA have plunged significantly from their pre-inauguration frenzy. To top that, certain industry experts also expect the two meme coins to test regulators’ boundaries under President Trump.
While intense scrutiny continues, newly revealed data estimates that Trump has made hundreds of millions from his own meme coin launch.
Trump’s Crypto Windfall
According to the latest update by Coinbase Director Conor Grogan, US President Donald Trump and his team may have generated over $802 million since launching the Official Trump (TRUMP) meme coin on January 18th.
The team has reportedly transferred more than $482 million worth of USDC stablecoin, Solana (SOL), and TRUMP to exchanges.
In addition, they currently hold $240 million in USDC in out-of-range liquidity positions, with another $50 million in active liquidity. The team has also managed to accumulate over $29.3 million in USDC fees alone. Notably, these figures do not account for the whopping $16 billion worth of TRUMP tokens that the team still retains, which essentially suggests the potential for even greater profits in the future when the market recovers.
Grogan also revealed that this $800 million liquidity event dwarfed the $285 million raised and $181 million in burned gas from the Bored Ape Otherside launch. He also noted that this estimate is conservative, as it does not account for Meteora liquidity pools (LPs) and fees.
Notably, this analysis also does not even factor in the Official Melania (MELANIA) meme coin launch, which could further add to the total financial impact.
Political Finance Debates
Despite the initial hype and massive trading volumes, TRUMP and MELANIA tokens have faced significant criticism.
Meanwhile, Chainalysis had previously revealed that whales dominate the two meme coin ecosystems, even as retail interest persisted. Critics, including James Thurber, accuse Trump of leveraging pro-crypto policies for personal gain. Additionally, FinTAX warned of SEC scrutiny, tax issues, and political finance risks while citing potential security classification and regulatory challenges tied to Trump’s 80% token ownership.
More recently, two senior congressional Democrats – Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Jake Auchincloss – urged regulators to investigate TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins, citing concerns regarding potential fraud and conflicts of interest.
The duo accused the President and the First Lady of using their positions for personal gain and warned of possible rug-pull scams as well as a lack of consumer benefits. Warren and Auchincloss argue that these tokens serve no purpose for financial innovation and may pose serious risks to investors and the wider economy.
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