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Solana-based (SOL) fake memecoins pretending to be Trump Official (TRUMP) and Melania Official (MELANIA) tokens are attracting significant attention.
Market data shared with industry news outlet Cointelegraph reveals that thousands of new memecoins were launched on Solana on Jan. 20 alone. Among those new tokens, 61 trade pretended to be TRUMP or MELANIA through their ticker, branding and project descriptions.
The details
These fake memecoins attracted $4.8 million worth of funds from 12,641 addresses in just 24 hours. It is also worth pointing out that the data only considers tokens clearly pretending to be the official TRUMP and MELANIA tokens, with satire tokens or those who featured disclaimers about not being officials being excluded.
Alan Orwick, co-founder of layer-1 blockchain project Quai Network explained that those tokens show how scammers can exploit existing high-profile brands in their efforts. Those dishonest market participants leverage hype to fool investors:
“Many tokens exhibit signs of potential rug pulls, characterized by high trading volumes with little to no liquidity or fundamental value.”
These tokens also often use artificially inflated market data to attract buyers and some had their liquidity be drained by their creators. In the latter cases, investors ended up with tokens that could not be sold anymore on the same decentralized exchanges (DEX) where they were acquired.
The news follows this month’s reports about Trump and his family launching their own TRUMP memecoin in the days leading to his inauguration as the United States president. This was quickly followed by his wife, Melania Trump, also launching her own MELANIA memecoin which resulted in TRUMP taking a nosedive.
Still, the copycat tokens are not the only ones being accused of engaging in unsavory market strategies. Recent reports by bockchain analysts point out suspicious trading activity surrounding the TRUMP memecoin — with some suggesting that market manipulation is taking place.
