The meme coin market has been firmly shaken over the past few days, with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump minting new meme coins on the Solana (SOL +1.30%) network, leading to a sharp spike higher in Solana's valuation. From 4 p.m. ET Friday to noon ET Monday, Solana has surged 17.6%, with meme coins Dogecoin (DOGE +2.48%), Shiba Inu (SHIB 1.11%), and Pepe (PEPE 0.17%) moving in the other direction, losing 10.6%, 12.8%, and 19.6%, respectively, over the same time frame.
Many investors would be right to assume that the meme coin market dominated by a few major players, each of which are vying for the attention of investors. So, with the newly issued Trump and Melania tokens soaking up the market's attention on Inauguration Day, it's also safe to assume there are going to be mixed feelings from investors and outsiders trying to figure out what's going on in the world of meme coins right now.
The days of Trump-driven headlines are back
In a sector that's best described as an attention game for those looking to build the strongest and most vibrant communities, new meme coins are minted and fall by the wayside on a weekly basis. However, Trump could be one of the greatest marketers of all time.
For Dogecoin (often considered the godfather of the meme coin sector) and later additions to the party such as Shiba Inu and Pepe, the rise of the next great meme coin (which briefly surpassed USD Coin in terms of daily trading volume this past weekend) is not welcome news. There's only so much attention and speculative capital to go around, and this is a winner-take-most space.
Of course, the question of just how long this rally will be, how high the Trump cryptocurrency will ultimately go, and if this move can be sustained remain to be seen. But the fact that both new tokens (as well as a range of other prominent recent meme coin offerings) have been minted on the Solana blockchain is good news for Solana investors. Solana appears to have become the blockchain network of choice for developers looking to create utility or generate value. Today's surge for Solana and corresponding declines for various meme tokens is indicative of investors' widespread view that Solana could be the best way to play this most recent bout of euphoria in the meme coin sector, rather than trying to pick individual winners.
Trump is simply playing the game
A man who is widely expected to be the most pro-crypto president in history is also actively playing in the capitalistic sandbox millions of American investors have explored in recent years. For many pundits, this move is unsavory, potentially inviting foreign powers to "donate" to a president in exchange for favors. And despite both Trump and Melania tokens explicitly stating they're "not intended to be, or to be the subject of, an investment opportunity, investment contract, or security of any type," it's clear that speculators view these digital assets as ways to get rich.
At the end of the day, that's what meme coin investing has been about, and will likely continue to reflect, for the vast majority of traders in this space. We'll have to see what an incoming Trump administration has in store in terms of regulations for this sector, but the concerns around these token launches are real.
Trump is playing the game, and right now this game is benefiting him personally (in a big way) as well as Solana investors. While I wouldn't touch most meme tokens, Solana still appears to be the best way to play most of the development that's taking place in the crypto sector right now, and I remain bullish on this project for this reason.
