The presidential meme coin fever: how a couple made billions while small investors lost everything

When Donald Trump and Melania launched their digital tokens in January 2025, prices skyrocketed before crashing 90% in just a few days. But behind this seemingly sudden mania lies a global network of consultants, platform developers, and financial intermediaries who orchestrated one of the largest transfers of wealth from the retail sector to the true market puppeteers.

The night of the inauguration: when the “presidential” tokens made their debut

During the presidential inauguration weekend last January, Washington’s landscape transformed into a sort of parallel stock exchange. At the “Crypto Ball” held at the Mellon Auditorium, with tickets costing $2,500, prominent figures in the industry— from politician Brock Pierce (co-founder of a $180 billion crypto company) to Trump advisor Zak Folkman— mingled among guests as the elected president announced on Truth Social the launch of “TRUMP,” a token purely based on hype.

A few hours later, Melania launched “MELANIA.” In one weekend, the combined value of the tokens held by the family and their business partners exceeded $5 billion. Then, everything collapsed. According to estimates from blockchain analysis firms like Chainalysis and Bubblemaps, the team collected over $350 million, while hundreds of thousands of small investors faced total losses.

What are meme coins: pure speculation on speculation

Meme coins are not investments in the traditional sense. Born in 2013 as a joke with Dogecoin (based on a Shiba Inu meme), they evolved into a market phenomenon where value depends solely on “collective faith” rather than economic fundamentals.

“According to the efficient markets hypothesis, this shouldn’t work, but the reality is that it makes money,” observed Alon Cohen, a 22-year-old founder of the Pump.fun platform, the largest for launching these tokens. His platform has helped launch about 1,400 meme coins and has earned nearly a billion dollars in commissions over the past year.

Creating a meme coin on these platforms is trivially simple: a few clicks, no programming required. Prices start from fractions of a cent and rise according to predetermined mathematical formulas based on demand. If a token attracts enough attention, it gets listed on major exchanges like certain well-known operators, attracting successive waves of traders who push the price further.

The mechanism is pure “pump and dump”: early entrants— insiders— earn astronomical sums while latecomers lose everything.

The shadow advisors: from Hayden Davis to the international network

The real mystery is: who actually created the Trump tokens? The president claimed to “know nothing” during his first-day press conference. The only clue was a company listed on the site: “Fight Fight Fight LLC,” clearly alluding to the Trumpian motto post-attack.

Blockchain investigators discovered that the true puppeteers were crypto consultants operating within an international network. Hayden Davis, a 29-year-old consultant from Liberty University, emerged as a central figure. Davis and his father Tom had founded Kelsier Ventures, a company providing “consulting” for token launches, influencer connections, and transaction management.

According to blockchain analysis, Davis and his associates earned over $150 million. But their previous experience had already exposed them: they had “advised” Argentine president Javier Milei on the launch of “Libra,” a token that collapsed hours later. Davis publicly admitted to earning about $100 million from that operation, claiming he “only manages funds for others”— funds that apparently were never returned.

The underlying platform: Meteora and Ng’s role

Behind the major meme coin launches was Meteora, a decentralized exchange co-founded by Ming Yeow Ng, a 40-year-old from Singapore with the avatar of an astronaut cat (nicknamed “Meow”).

Ben Chow, then CEO of Meteora, emerges as a key link. According to testimonies collected, Chow was “deeply involved in major meme coin projects,” and Davis repeatedly said phrases like “Ben said so” and “Ben says the token is about to be launched.” When directly confronted, Chow admitted to acting as a “middleman” between Melania’s team and Davis, providing “technical support.”

Meteora, unlike Pump.fun, is larger and more customizable, enabling sophisticated operations. 90% of the $134 million in exchange revenue last year came from meme coins. Ng claims his platform simply provides “technical support” and cannot “control the intentions of issuers,” comparing his role to that of a neutral provider.

The “sniping” mechanism and privileged trading

Blockchain analysis revealed clear insider trading patterns. Someone bought $1.1 million in TRUMP in seconds— clearly informed in advance— then sold three days later, earning $100 million.

Another address bought MELANIA “before it was public,” earning $2.4 million. Tracing the transaction chain, blockchain analysts found that this address belonged to the same person or team that created the token.

“On Wall Street, this is called insider trading. In the crypto sector, crime is legal,” said Nicolas Vaiman, co-founder of Bubblemaps.

The dinner of corruption: when major holders dine with the president

In April 2025, the TRUMP site announced: “The biggest investors will have the honor of dining with the president.” The top 220 investors by purchase volume were invited to a gala dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia the following month.

The largest holder was crypto billionaire Justin Sun, born in China, who had purchased $15 million in TRUMP. A few months earlier, US authorities had suspended a fraud lawsuit against Sun. Senator Elizabeth Warren called the event a “corruption party.”

The White House spokesperson defended Trump, saying he participated “in his free time,” as if that could avoid conflicts of interest. When the event took place, security checked documents at the entrance— some guests showed foreign passports. The main dish was beef filet. Trump arrived by helicopter, gave a short speech on crypto, and left. No one reported having had significant private talks with the president.

The whistleblower: what former Davis partner revealed

Moty Povolotski, co-founder of the DefiTuna startup, came forward as a whistleblower, recounting how Davis had hired his company to “assist with meme coin transactions.” The revealed messages clearly showed the intent: “Guys, let’s be honest, we just need to squeeze everything out of this token,” Davis wrote.

Povolotski recounts visiting Davis in Barcelona, where his father showed “an automatic program” to snipe a new token called ENRON (named after the collapsed energy company). After seeing everything, Povolotski cut ties with both.

When Povolotski recorded a video call with Chow (then shown to investigators), Chow appeared distressed. “I feel terrible,” he muttered. But he did not deny being close to Davis and admitted to having introduced contacts for Melania’s team.

The “tank” philosopher: Ming Yeow Ng and his view of finance

Ng, co-founder of Meteora, became evasive when asked about the presidential tokens. “If I told you the story is more boring than you think, would you believe me?” he said.

He admitted that someone from Trump’s team contacted Meteora for “technical support,” but insisted his company only provided infrastructure, did not participate in transactions, and did “nothing illegal.”

Philosophically expressing his ideals, Ng claims that the meme coin market is “purer” because it only reflects “the value users attribute based on their faith.” He compared the sector’s judgment to the proverb: “don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater.” In his metaphor, the “bath” contains both “dog poop” (scams) and the true “baby” (legitimate innovation).

“The dollar is a meme coin,” he exclaimed, slamming the table during an interview at a Singapore cat café, “everything is a meme coin!”

The decline and unresolved conflicts of interest

By November 2025, the total volume of meme coins had fallen 92% from the January peak. Investors had been “squeezed” until only money remained.

As of December 10, TRUMP had fallen 92% from its peak, to $5.90; MELANIA had plummeted 99%, to just $0.11— practically worthless.

Meanwhile, the Trump family built a “diversified conflict of interest portfolio,” denying that “personal interests influence politics.” The president promoted a plan to acquire strategic bitcoin reserves for the government; his son Eric owns a bitcoin mining company. Trump also pardoned billionaire Changpeng Zhao (co-founder of a major exchange), who had provided key support to the family’s crypto projects.

Lack of regulation: the legal vacuum

According to lawyers who filed civil suits against the responsible parties, “this is the ultimate machine for extracting value, designed by very capable people.” Max Burwick, a New York lawyer, filed suits against Pump.fun on behalf of losing investors, calling it “a manipulated casino by insiders,” and named Davis, Chow, and Meteora for repeated “pump and dump.”

All defendants deny it: lawyers argue that the tokens “are not scams” and that they never promised value increases. No direct charges have been brought against Trump or Milei.

The US SEC stated it “will not regulate” meme coins, merely noting that “other fraud laws may still apply.” So far, no other regulatory body has intervened effectively.

Epilogue: when technology meets greed

Ng continues to operate. Meteora launched its cryptocurrency in October with a market cap of over $300 million. Davis has become a “pariah” in the sector, but blockchain shows his wallet continues trading meme coins.

As long as those helping to launch and promote these tokens remain silent, it remains difficult to understand exactly how they earned so much in so little time. In traditional markets, authorities could examine transactions and seek evidence of manipulation. In the world of meme coins, such regulation still seems far off— a vacuum likely to be filled with the next big crypto market hype.