The Solana blockchain became ground zero for politics-themed memecoins over the weekend.
Both TRUMP and MELANIA launched and experienced wild price swings, with the former sinking as the latter’s market cap soared.
Meanwhile, a new Solana memecoin called SOLX has also gained traction - raising $12 million in its presale phase.
TRUMP and MELANIA’s wild price swings make headlines
TRUMP’s run hit a wall right after the MELANIA token went live.
After climbing rapidly on Saturday, TRUMP reached a peak value of $75.35 on Sunday morning, with its market cap touching $15 billion.
It also managed to outpace all other major memecoins in terms of 24H spot trading volume.
Then MELANIA launched, and everything changed.
TRUMP’s price crashed by more than 50% in just two hours.
While the token has started recovering since then, it still hasn’t reclaimed those earlier highs.
MELANIA, on the other hand, has seen continued momentum since yesterday.
Since its launch, the token has rallied over 10,000%, now hovering around the $12.70 level.
It’s already climbed to fourth place in the memecoin trading volumes rankings, pushing ahead of SHIB.
Ultimately, both TRUMP and MELANIA have caught the crypto world’s attention – evidenced by them featuring in CoinMarketCap’s top five most visited projects.
Token distribution and controversy – A closer look at TRUMP and MELANIA
The rise of both coins has sparked debate in the crypto community.
TRUMP, launched just days before the President-elect’s return to office, is managed by CIC Digital LLC – a Trump Organization subsidiary – along with Fight Fight Fight LLC.
These entities control 80% of the token’s billion-strong supply under a three-year unlocking schedule.
MELANIA, which launched just 24 hours after TRUMP, raised immediate red flags among blockchain analysts.
While it advertises a structured distribution with 35% allocated to team vesting, on-chain data shows that 89% of the supply was initially in a single wallet before being split into four.
Critics have expressed concerns about this.
YouTuber Coffeezilla blasted the timing of TRUMP’s vesting schedule, which aligns with the upcoming presidency.
Coinbase’s Conor Grogan pointed out that the project showed signs of less professional handling.
Others questioned the ethics of launching memecoins so close to inauguration day.
Regardless, both TRUMP and MELANIA have continued to attract attention.
According to Solscan data, these coins already have almost 1.3 million combined holders.
Solaxy layer-2 project raises $12m in presale ahead of planned exchange listing
While politics-themed memecoins have dominated headlines, another Solana-based project has also experienced an uptick in demand.
Solaxy (SOLX), a new layer-2 scaling solution for Solana, has raised $12 million in its presale phase.
Investors can buy SOLX tokens for $0.001606 while the presale is ongoing.
Unlike TRUMP and MELANIA, this memecoin seeks to solve real technical challenges in Solana’s ecosystem.
Source: SOLAXY
The project focuses on reducing network congestion and failed transactions through off-chain processing.
By moving transactions to a layer-2 network, Solaxy pledges to maintain Solana’s speed while improving reliability.
Another feature of the project is its staking app.
SOLX holders can lock up their tokens in this app to generate yield – more than 3.7 billion tokens have already been pledged.
Staking rewards will be generated while the presale is live and claimable once it ends.
According to Solaxy’s whitepaper, the team plans to list SOLX on a DEX after the presale, with a view to CEX listings if all goes well.
They’ve set aside 10% of the total supply for exchange liquidity.
As Solana continues to grow, projects like Solaxy could play a role in addressing its scalability challenges.
The team will provide regular updates in the project’s Telegram channel.