The crypto market is constantly stormy, but lately the waves have been mighty. Donald Trump’s return to the White House was a real test, as his attitude toward the industry not only changed from skeptical to positive, but also influenced trends. A few days before his inauguration, he appeared TRUMP memcoin, which gained a market value of over $15 billion in just a few hours, and the price reached $75.35. However, as analysts warned, the launch of this coin Trump opens Pandora’s cryptocurrency chest.
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Trump has no intention of stopping
As of February 19, the capitalization of the TRUMP token fell to $3.25 billion, and the price of the — token dropped to $16.27, i.e., by 78%. Due to this volatility, more than 810,000 investors lost more than $2 billion, writes The New York Times. At the same time, the Trump family and their partners received almost $100 million in trade fees. The most surprising thing is that Trump himself, as it turned out, knows little about his token. It would seem that this is not a good story for his image. However, the US president has no intention of stopping.
To further popularize memecoin, announced about the airdrop. Buyers of goods from Trump’s official store will receive the equivalent of $50 in the form of his TRUMP memecoins.
The first imitators
The success of the first presidential memoin so inspired the President of the Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin-Archange Touadera, that he launched the Central African Republic Meme (CAR) token. Memcoin appeared on February 9 and instantly attracted the attention of the crypto community.
A few hours after the launch, its value rose to $0.89, and its market capitalization soared to $900 million. But later, the price fell by almost 98% and now stands at $0.015 with a market capitalization of $13.46 million.
Presidential tokens of Cyprus and Congo
Another example of a scam due to hype against the backdrop of presidential memes concerns the Congo token. The fraudulent project was presented as an initiative to support the country’s development and attract investment, and was announced from an X account with a gray verification icon reserved for government agencies. A user who imitated the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Félix Tshisekedi, posted a message about the token’s launch.
However, the handle of this account, @sadwraciborzu, had no connection to the DRC or its president. Moreover, the account itself was created only in February 2025. Another verified account of Tshisekedi on the X platform has been inactive since January 2020. And the video allegedly featuring Tshisekedi’s address turned out to be generated by artificial intelligence.
Things got even more interesting when it turned out that the same account with the handle @sadwraciborzu tried to imitate the official page of Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides on the same day (February 10). They also announced a pseudo-state token.
This account is currently blocked.
The collapse of the Argentine token LIBRA
Fraud with the LIBRA token became one of the most high-profile scandals of early 2025. Its story began with an unexpected support from Argentine President Javier Millais, which led to an instant rush among investors. However, the project turned out to be a typical pump and dump scheme aimed at making quick money for the organizers at the expense of gullible investors.
On February 16, 2025, a post appeared on the social network X (formerly Twitter) on Milei’s official account, in which he spoke well of the LIBRA token. He stated that this asset would help the Argentine economy and support small businesses and entrepreneurship.
According to rough estimates, the total amount of investors’ losses in LIBRA are about $314 million.
Scam connection between MELANIA and LIBRA tokens
A token named after US First Lady Melania Trump, MELANIA, launched alongside TRUMP, was initially positioned as a digital collectible. Unlike TRUMP, which was actively traded on major crypto exchanges, MELANIA had limited use but retained some popularity.
As it turned out, there is a connection between MELANIA and LIBRA. Bubblemaps analysts found that the creators of LIBRA are connected to the individuals who previously launched the MELANIA memecoin. An analysis of blockchain transactions showed that wallets associated with the launch of MELANIA were also involved in the creation and sale of LIBRA, indicating that the same fraudulent scheme was reused.
Also, the holders of these wallets sold both tokens at the most opportune moments, earning millions before the price crashed, wiping out retail investors’ savings.
The scandal sparked investigations into the possible involvement of political figures or their cronies in enriching themselves through these schemes. While there is no direct evidence of Melania Trump or Javier Millais’ involvement, their public support has fueled speculation and investment frenzy.
Negative consequences for the entire industry
The investigation into the LIBRA crypto token has become international. Argentine law firm filed a complaint to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) calling for an investigation into the role of Argentine President Javier Milea in promoting the token, as the total losses of 40,000 investors exceed $4 billion.
The emergence of political tokens will have long-term negative consequences. They undermine investor confidence, not only in memecoins as a separate phenomenon, but in the industry as a whole.
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