When celebrities launch cryptocurrencies: the case of presidential tokens and the "value extraction machine"

The Story Behind Meme Coins: From a Joke to a Billion-Dollar Industry

Before analyzing how a political family can earn hundreds of millions of dollars by launching worthless digital tokens, it is essential to understand what a meme coin is and how it has conquered the cryptocurrency market.

In 2013, two software developers created Dogecoin using the icon of a perplexed Shiba Inu — already famous on Reddit and 4chan — as a symbol of irony towards the proliferation of digital currencies post-Bitcoin. The intent was satirical, but investors flocked in mass, and within a few weeks, the project reached a market cap of $12 million. Supporters even sponsored a NASCAR team, covering the car with stickers.

One of the founders had a prophetic doubt: “I really hope people don’t take Dogecoin as a model to turn every viral meme into a cryptocurrency.” But the opposite happened. In the following years, when personalities like Elon Musk began publicly promoting Dogecoin, the market became saturated with variants — Dogwifhat, Bonk, Fartcoin — each promising to replicate the “miracle of the first meme coin.”

The Meme Coin Paradox: Value Based Solely on Speculation

Meme coins represent an anomaly in traditional financial markets. Even the most extreme speculative bubbles in history are based on a weak — albeit theoretical — expectation of future potential. Meme coins have not produced, do not generate cash flows, and have no underlying technical assets. According to classic valuation criteria, they should be worth practically nothing.

Yet, they generate astronomical profits. As stated by Alon Cohen, co-founder of a token launch platform, in an interview: “According to the efficient markets hypothesis, this shouldn’t work, but the reality is that it makes money.” Cohen, at 22, has already accumulated considerable wealth. His platform has facilitated the launch of about 1,400 meme coins and has earned over $1 billion in transaction fees since January 2024.

The meme coin economy operates on a simple logic: the value depends solely on the ability to find the next willing buyer willing to pay more. It is speculation on speculation itself — a zero-sum game where winners are those who enter first and exit before the collapse.

The “Crypto Ball” of January 2025 and the Debut of Trump Tokens

The weekend of the American presidential inauguration in January 2025 saw two significant events converge. On one side, the “Crypto Ball” at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington gathered industry lobbyists, influencers, and politicians. On the other, the elected president announced on his Truth Social platform the launch of a token called “TRUMP.”

The announcement was accompanied by the message “Have fun!” and the token’s price skyrocketed within hours. Simultaneously, that same weekend, his wife launched “MELANIA.” The two tokens quickly reached a combined peak market capitalization of over $5 billion.

However, the trajectory proved predictable: within two days, the price collapsed, never recovering. According to analyses by specialized firms, the family team — along with their business partners — pocketed over $350 million before the collapse. Hundreds of thousands of small investors suffered total losses.

The Role of Meteora and the “Mysterious Partners”

The central mystery concerns the identity of those who actually created and launched these tokens. Although the president claimed to “know nothing” during his first press conference, documents registered in Delaware reveal the involvement of Bill Zanker, a seventy-year-old entrepreneur known for co-writing a book with Trump in 2007 and promoting seminars and conferences on “business” for decades.

A more significant lead points to “Fight Fight Fight LLC” — a shell company registered at a private mailbox branch in West Palm Beach. But real connections emerge through blockchain analysis and insider testimonies.

A crucial role appears to have been played by the Meteora trading platform, a decentralized exchange where both TRUMP and MELANIA ( as well as a similar token launched by a South American leader ) were issued. Meteora was co-founded by Ming Yeow Ng, known online as “Meow,” a Singaporean in his forties with an avatar of an astronaut cat.

Ng claims that Meteora provided only “technical support” for creating the tokens, denying involvement in commercial transactions or market manipulations. However, according to witnesses, the Meteora team — especially its former CEO Ben Chow — maintained close relationships with consultants operating behind the scenes.

Hayden Davis: The Mysterious Advisor and the Presidential “Pump and Dump”

The common thread connecting the various scandals related to presidential tokens is Hayden Davis, a thirty-year-old crypto consultant from Liberty University, who describes himself as an “startup expert.” Working with his father Tom, Davis founded Kelsier Ventures, operating as an “alternative investment bank” specializing in launching and managing high-yield tokens.

According to blockchain analyses by specialized investigators, Davis’s operational scheme followed a consistent pattern: initial low-price internal sale → rapid market capitalization increase → quick collapse. Calculations suggest that Davis and his associates pocketed over $150 million, mostly from a single project.

When this project collapsed after a few hours, the political consequences were significant. Davis later publicly admitted to participating in the launch of a token linked to a Latin American political figure, claiming he only “managed funds for others” — funds that were never returned.

In an interview with a anti-fraud content creator, Davis described the meme coin scene as “dishonest,” admitting that the markets he promotes operate like “unregulated casinos.” Curiously, he also admitted to having a role in launching MELANIA, though he insisted he “did not profit” and advised investors to “completely avoid the market.”

The Key Testimony: The Whistleblower and the Network of Connections

An investigative breakthrough came from the testimony of Moty Povolotski, co-founder of a decentralized finance startup, who became a sort of public “informant.” Povolotski revealed that his company was tasked with managing transactions on behalf of Davis and that he had “proof of a broader conspiracy.”

In messages and recorded communications, Davis appeared obsessed with extracting maximum value from the tokens before each inevitable collapse. A recurring phrase in his messages to partners was: “We just need to squeeze everything out of this token.” For MELANIA, Davis transferred about 10 million tokens to intermediaries, ordering them to “sell as soon as the market cap reaches $100 million” and recommending “completely anonymous” operations.

The network extended as far as Singapore. Povolotski reported meeting Davis through Ben Chow, then CEO of Meteora, at a party in September 2024. In subsequent exchanges, Davis frequently referenced “Ben Chow’s instructions,” suggesting close coordination between the two.

Blockchain Analysis Reveals Insider Trading

Blockchain analysis researchers discovered significant anomalies in the public data of TRUMP and MELANIA. One address acquired $1.1 million worth of TRUMP in a few seconds — clearly operated by someone with privileged information about launch timings — then sold everything in three days for a $100 million profit.

Another wallet bought MELANIA “before it was made public,” generating a profit of $2.4 million. Through transaction chain analysis, analysts found that this wallet belonged to the same entity responsible for creating MELANIA.

“In Wall Street, this would be called insider trading,” said Nicolas Vaiman, a forensic blockchain analyst, “but no authority wants to enforce such rules on the meme coin market. Essentially, in the crypto sector, crime is legal.”

Even more revealing was the fact that the creator wallet of a similar token launched by a South American leader was linked to the one responsible for MELANIA — and that leader’s advisor was already publicly known.

The Lack of Regulation: The Regulatory Vacuum

When the Trump government took office, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared it would “not regulate” meme coins, merely noting that “other fraud laws may still apply” — a theoretical statement with no practical effect.

No other regulatory agency, federal prosecutor, or investigator has taken action. Meanwhile, civil lawsuits filed by market fraud specialists proceed slowly, with no direct charges against involved politicians.

Defendants systematically deny: lawyers argue that the tokens “were not scams” and that no formal promise of appreciation was ever made; traders claim they provided “only technical support” without knowledge of the issuers’ intentions.

Ming Yeow Ng and the Philosophy of “Financial Utopia”

Met in a cat café near his office in Singapore, Ming Yeow Ng articulated a philosophical vision blending financial freedom with postmodern skepticism. “Even the dollar is a meme coin,” he declared, pounding the table, “everything is based on collective faith. If you assign value to something, it has value.”

Ng, a forty-year-old who grew up managing a street food stall, later studied computer engineering and developed tech services. His immersion into the crypto world began through a “Dogecoin-themed party” that deeply fascinated him.

During the conversation, Ng admitted that the “Trump team” contacted Meteora requesting “technical support” to create the tokens, but insisted that his company only provided infrastructure. He dismissed questions about Davis and Chow as “conspiracy theories,” claiming it is “difficult to judge” others’ actions.

When asked whether the market he facilitated resembled more a manipulated casino than a financial utopia, Ng replied that this was the inevitable nature of markets in general: “Crypto is a microcosm. It reflects what the world truly wants — to make money effortlessly.”

Epilogue: The Decline of the Mania and the Remaining Legacy

In the months following the launch, the total trading volume of meme coins drastically contracted. By November, the volume had fallen 92% from the January peak. Investors had been “squeezed” progressively until funds were exhausted.

As of December 10, TRUMP had fallen 92% from its highs to $5.9; MELANIA had plummeted 99%, trading at only $0.11 — essentially worthless paper. Hayden Davis became a pariah in the industry, disappearing from social media, although blockchain analysis showed his wallet still active in meme coin trading.

Meanwhile, Meteora launched a proprietary cryptocurrency in October with a market cap exceeding $300 million, deriving most profits from the percentage of commissions generated by meme coins — about 90% of the $134 million annual revenue.

According to a financial law attorney, what had happened represented “the ultimate machine for extracting value, designed by very capable people.” While civil lawsuits proceed slowly and no criminal charges have been filed, one fact remains: with a government inclined to loosen financial regulation and markets driven by those profiting from volatility, the cryptocurrency sector continues to be the “Wild West” of finance — where traditional rules of transparency and accountability simply do not exist.