Global turmoil over meme coins: What happened in the US and Argentina?

On January 18, 2025, Donald Trump, shortly before taking office as president of the United States, announced the official meme coin "TRUMP" named after himself. The price soared after it was posted on his social media platform "Truth Social" and trading began, and it temporarily rose to about $75 (about 11,700 yen) on the 20th, the day of his inauguration.

After that, perhaps due to this success, "MELANIA" was also issued, named after Trump's wife Melania. However, this one rose to $13 (about 2,000 yen) immediately after trading began, but then fell to about $3 (about 465 yen), showing noticeable fluctuations.

The price of TRUMP also plummeted at the same time, perhaps due to distrust over the transfer of funds to MELANIA and the excessive issuance of meme coins. TRUMP's price dropped to about $39 (about 6,000 yen) within 24 hours of MELANIA's issuance.

Needless to say, these cryptocurrencies are called meme coins. Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency created based on popular topics and jokes on the Internet, so they are not intended for clear use cases or technological innovations like Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), and even among cryptocurrencies that are said to have no substance, they have no intrinsic value.

The reason why people go to the trouble of issuing such things is basically to prove jokes and the community they belong to. They combine the characteristics of blockchain, which allows anyone to easily issue tokens to prove they are friends or jokes that are understood among friends.