https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/09/from-dogecoin-to-trump-everything-you-need-know-about-the-wild-world-of-meme-coins

Are they the same as crypto, why has the US president launched one, and who’s really coining it in? Here’s a complete guide to the latest digital money mania

Three days before his inauguration as US president, Donald Trump made an unusual move. He launched $Trump, a so-called meme coin that fans and speculators could buy in the hopes it would gain value. Initially, $Trump soared from a value of $7 to $75 per coin in a day, according to crypto price-tracking website CoinMarketCap. Two days later, it dropped to about $40 – just as incoming first lady Melania Trump launched her own meme coin, $Melania. Even the pastor at Trump’s inauguration ceremony, Lorenzo Sewell, got swept up in the meme coin frenzy, promoting a $Lorenzo version the same afternoon.