MELANIA Meme Coin Gets Engulfed by a New Wave of Controversy

A new wave of controversy has engulfed the MELANIA meme coin. Blockchain tracking platform Arkham revealed that the development team withdrew $1 million worth of liquidity

A new wave of controversy has engulfed MELANIA (MELANIA) meme coin as blockchain tracking platform Arkham revealed that the development team withdrew 1 million in liquidity from Solana-based platform Meteora and moved the funds to a fresh wallet.

While meme coins are known for their speculative momentum and, in recent times, celebrity branding, this incident has sparked fears of a potential rug pull. These concerns are further amplified by the project’s history of questionable token movements and investors are now questioning the token’s legitimacy.

As the crypto community takes a closer look at MELANIA’s recurring liquidity dumps and dwindling trust, let’s take a look at what happened and why investors are worried.

MELANIA TEAM MOVING $1MMELANIAThe MELANIA Team just removed $1M of MELANIA from Meteora liquidity pools and sent it on to a new wallet.Previously, when they have done this, they have sold MELANIA via Jupiter DCA, then deposited the SOL to MEXC.

Melania Liquidity Vanishes

The 1 million withdrawal on April 29 marks the latest chapter in MELANIA’s liquidity controversy. In the weeks preceding this event, the developers had been diligently selling off MELANIA tokens from decentralized exchanges.

According to data from Lookonchain and EmberCN, these withdrawals follow a well-defined pattern. The team systematically moves funds, fragmenting their holdings across multiple wallets. Afterwards, they offload these tokens through aggregators like Jupiter using dollar-cost averaging (DCA) tactics.

While this method appears to be implemented carefully to minimize any significant impact on the market, critics contend that it serves to obfuscate the full scope of insider activity, especially when it comes to large-scale exits from liquidity.

The #Melania team didn’t just add or remove liquidity to sell $MELANIA, they also employed a DCA strategy for direct sales!2 days ago, they sold 1.18M $MELANIA for 4,230 $SOL($632K) using the DCA strategy.Today, they are selling another 2.01M $MELANIA($938K) through the DCA…pic.twitter.com/FQBUghEogv

On April 28, just a day before the 1 million pull, the team reportedly sold nearly 938,000 in tokens. That followed another 632,000 in sales just 48 hours earlier. In another context, these moves could be viewed as strategic liquidity management.

However, given the frequency, scale, and stealth with which MELANIA’s sell-offs are executed, they have only served to galvanize fears that this could be a carefully orchestrated slow-motion rug pull.

Together, these sales put the total sold by the developers since mid-April at an estimated 14.75 million.

Market Sentiment Crumbles

These liquidity removals come at a time when the meme coin market is already showing signs of fatigue. MELANIA, once touted as a politically charged collectible with viral potential, is now trading at just 0.39. This marks a collapse of over 99% from its peak valuation.

Despite occasional rebounds, like the recent 21% uptick after a rumor of a new exchange listing, investor confidence appears to be quickly dwindling. The rapid erosion in market cap, combined with the crypto project’s history of liquidity dumps and lack of transparency, has painted a bleak picture of the token’s future.

The situation also highlights a broader trend in the market. Traders are shifting their focus toward tokens backed by real-world utility, such as those operating in the AI and RWA (real-world asset) sectors.

In contrast, MELANIA’s liquidity extractions and lack of developer accountability leave it dangerously exposed to both market abandonment and potential regulatory scrutiny. While some community members are still holding out hope for a turnaround, most crypto observers see the project as a cautionary tale.