MELANIA is a MEME coin launched in 2025 that exploits the name of former First Lady Melania Trump, lacking technological support, practical application scenarios, and regulatory endorsement. It relies on insider trading and market manipulation techniques to achieve a harvest, with profits involved amounting to nearly $100 million, marking a symbolic case of small-cap coins preying on investors that year.
Before launch, the project team and core insiders privately accumulated over 60% of the circulating tokens at extremely low prices, while releasing vague positive news in niche communities about 'celebrity-related tokens launching soon' to attract a small number of speculative investors' attention, paving the way for price manipulation.
After the token was launched on a decentralized exchange, the project team collaborated with self-media and signal callers to spread false positive news such as 'Melania's team endorsement' and 'large institutional holdings,' while engaging in wash trading with their own holdings to create a false sense of volume and price increase. Within 48 hours, the token price surged over 20 times, causing many retail investors to chase the price upwards.
When retail investor holdings exceeded 30% and the price reached its peak, the project team and insiders simultaneously dumped their holdings. Due to the lack of liquidity depth in the coin, the sell-off triggered a cliff-like price drop, plummeting over 90% within hours. After completing the sell-off, the project team shut down the community, took down the official website, and emptied the wallet address, absconding with nearly $100 million.
Before launch, the project team and core insiders privately accumulated over 60% of the circulating tokens at extremely low prices, while releasing vague positive news in niche communities about 'celebrity-related tokens launching soon' to attract a small number of speculative investors' attention, paving the way for price manipulation.
After the token was launched on a decentralized exchange, the project team collaborated with self-media and signal callers to spread false positive news such as 'Melania's team endorsement' and 'large institutional holdings,' while engaging in wash trading with their own holdings to create a false sense of volume and price increase. Within 48 hours, the token price surged over 20 times, causing many retail investors to chase the price upwards.
When retail investor holdings exceeded 30% and the price reached its peak, the project team and insiders simultaneously dumped their holdings. Due to the lack of liquidity depth in the coin, the sell-off triggered a cliff-like price drop, plummeting over 90% within hours. After completing the sell-off, the project team shut down the community, took down the official website, and emptied the wallet address, absconding with nearly $100 million.
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