A group of crypto traders reportedly made around $100 million in profit by buying Melania Trump's memecoin just minutes before its official launch.

According to a report by the Financial Times, the traders spent $2.6 million to acquire 16.7 million $MELANIA tokens shortly before the First Lady announced the project publicly on January 19.

A group of crypto traders reportedly managed to make around $100 million in profit by buying up Melania Trump’s memecoin just minutes ahead of its official launch last month.

As reported by the Financial Times, the traders collectively spent $2.6 million to acquire 16.7 million $MELANIA tokens shortly before the former First Lady announced the project on January 19. The price of the token climbed from roughly $2.00 to $12.95 following the announcement, an increment of 550%, and the traders sold most of their holdings within 12 hours.

The FT identified 24 wallets that accumulated the bulk of the pre-launch tokens, with another 22 wallets buying around $900,000 worth of tokens in the 42 seconds following the announcement. The suspicious timing raised concerns of insider trading or advance knowledge of the launch.

The memecoin’s debut came just two days after Donald Trump unveiled his own TRUMP token, which has also come under scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers. Some politicians expressed concerns over potential corruption, conflicts of interest, and even foreign influence.

The criticism intensified after it was revealed that top TRUMP token holders would be invited to a private dinner and tour with the former president, prompting at least one senator to call for impeachment proceedings.

Despite their explosive launches, both tokens have since seen steep declines. At the time of writing, MELANIA is trading at around $0.31, and TRUMP has dropped to $10.90. The TRUMP token did see a brief price increase after the dinner announcement in April but quickly fell again.

Adding to the controversy, two companies connected to Donald Trump reportedly control about 80% of the TRUMP token supply, although a large portion of those holdings are locked and set to vest over the next three years.

Critics have warned that the structure leaves room for insiders to potentially pull the rug on retail investors, especially as political and regulatory scrutiny over crypto and campaign fundraising is heating up.

For his part, Trump gave mixed messages on whether he has financially benefited from his own cryptocurrency project during a Meet the Press interview that was filmed on March 31 and broadcast on May 4.

When pressed by NBC’s Kristen Welker about profiting from the "Official Trump" (TRUMP) memecoin launched in January, Trump replied, "I haven't even looked," and insisted, "I'm not profiting from anything."

However, he added, "If I own stock in something and I do a good job, and the stock market goes up, I guess I'm profiting."