The team behind the Melania Trump memecoin, MELANIA, has sold off more tokens despite concerns about a rug pull. According to EmberCN, the team has sold an additional 12.685 million MELANIA tokens worth $5.41 million.
Per the report, they sold the tokens by adding unilateral liquidity to the MELANIA/SOL liquidity pool and withdrawing SOL. The latest sales follow earlier sell-offs of almost $15 million worth of tokens by the team and suggest that they might keep dumping until they run out of supply.
EmberCN noted that since March 16, the team has transferred and sold 31.685 million MELANIA tokens from the community and liquidity addresses by adding unilateral liquidity. Through the sell-offs, the MELANIA team has accumulated 138,800 SOL worth $18.41 million.
The continued sell-off of the tokens without any communication from the team has led to speculations as to what the team’s intention might be. However, the reputation of the people behind the project suggests that it could be an attempt by insiders to cash in.
So far, only 550 million of the token’s 1 billion maximum supply is in circulation. The team has a 35% allocation of that total supply, with 10% unlocked 30 days after the launch, and the remainder to be gradually unlocked through linear vesting over the next 13 months.
MELANIA surges despite continued sales
Interestingly, MELANIA has seen its value increase significantly over the last 24 hours despite the sell-offs. According to CoinMarketCap, the token gained more than 15% today, going from $0.4536 to $0.5365.
Although the price has since dropped to $0.5217, it is still up almost 30% in the last seven days. However, its current price is below the average sale price of $0.581 for the tokens sold by the team so far.
The surge in MELANIA value is mostly due to the announcement that President Donald Trump would have a dinner with the top 220 holders of the TRUMP memecoin. The news of the exclusive dinner caused the TRUMP token to witness a massive surge in value, and MELANIA also benefited from it.
Interestingly, the general crypto market has also enjoyed a positive turn over the period, with Bitcoin once again hitting $95,000, while Ether breached $1,800 for the first time since April 6. Other major altcoins, including Solana, Sui, Link, and BNB, have also seen gains.
MELANIA unlikely to return to previous highs
However, the recent gains only mask what has been a sizable drop in the value of MELANIA tokens. Despite these gains, the token is still trading far below its peak value, which means that several holders are likely in the red.
According to Coingecko, MELANIA peaked at $13.05, which means it is down 96% at its current price. The likelihood of returning to that level is relatively slim, especially as interest in memecoins continues to fade.
Its counterpart, TRUMP, is also not doing any better. After its gains today, it is still 81% below its all-time high of $73.43, showing that the increased interest that contributed to its $2.29 billion 24-hour trading volume is not enough to sustain its upward momentum.
