Unveiling the Presidential-Level Meme Coin Scandal: From Wallet Tracking to Power Rent-Seeking Full Chain

Last January in Washington, a shocking scene unfolded at a cryptocurrency ball. When the elected president announced on social media the launch of a meme coin named after himself, its price skyrocketed to astronomical levels within hours, only to crash 90% within a few days, leaving hundreds of thousands of retail investors with nothing. Even more outrageous, no one was willing to admit they were the masterminds behind this “legal harvest.”

The Birth of Meme Coins: From Joke to Value Extraction Machine

To understand this scandal, we must first look at the origins of Meme coins. In 2013, two engineers created Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency featuring the popular Shiba Inu meme, originally as a parody of the rampant proliferation of tokens during the Bitcoin craze. Unexpectedly, it sparked an investment frenzy. Over the past decade, these “no real application, purely hype” meme tokens have not disappeared but instead entered a boom period in 2024.

Why did Meme coins become so popular? The founder of a popular issuance platform bluntly stated: “This goes against all basic financial principles, yet it really makes money.” Stock market bubbles are at least based on the prospects of a company, but Meme coins have no products or cash flow; the only way buyers profit is by selling to the next person at a higher price—essentially “speculating on speculation itself.”

Since early 2024, this platform has accumulated approximately $1 billion in transaction fees, helping to issue over 1,400 Meme coins. These seemingly harmless meme tokens, in reality, have become a “ultimate value extraction machine.”

The Presidential Bet: From $50 Billion to Near Zero

That weekend in mid-January 2025 changed everything. The elected president and his wife simultaneously launched their own meme coins, TRUMP and MELANIA. According to blockchain data analysis, the prices of these tokens once soared, and insiders’ wallets accumulated over $50 billion in paper wealth within hours.

But the story took a quick turn. Prices plummeted, market caps evaporated, and ordinary investors became “bagholders.” An estimate by a cryptocurrency analysis firm suggests that the behind-the-scenes team may have cashed out over $350 million.

Stranger still, the operators behind these transactions never appeared publicly. The token website footer only listed a mysterious company called “Fight Fight Fight LLC.” White House spokespeople insisted, “The president and his family have never, and will never, have any conflicts of interest,” and when asked about the tokens, the president himself claimed, “All I know is I launched them; I know nothing about them.”

Tracking the Trail: Argentine President’s Meme Coin Scandal Breaks Silence

The breakthrough came from South America. That same month, another national leader—the President of Argentina—endorsed a meme coin called “Libra,” which crashed within hours, prompting the president to delete the tweet urgently. This incident triggered an investigation.

Blockchain experts traced the flow of funds through transaction wallets and uncovered startling connections. Some wallets pre-purchased large amounts before the token’s launch, then sold quickly after the price surged, netting over a hundred million dollars in profit; others bought before Melania’s unpublicized release, hinting at insider information leaks. More importantly, multiple meme coin creation wallets were interconnected.

These clues pointed to a person named Hayden Davis. A former Virginia dropout, Davis was a cryptocurrency advisor to the Argentine president, working with his father on several suspicious projects. They established a company called Kelsier Ventures, offering “consulting services” for those wanting to issue meme coins—essentially helping insiders craft schemes to “pump and dump.”

Blockchain data shows Davis and his partners earned over $150 million in profits. When exposed, he posted a video admitting involvement but claimed, “I was just holding the funds” (which he has yet to return), and also leaked internal messages where he insulted the Argentine president and boasted, “He signs whatever I tell him.”

Secrets Behind the Wallets: The Subtle Relationship Between Trading Platforms and Presidential Teams

However, Davis himself does not seem to be the true puppet master. A former accomplice came forward, revealing that there are even larger forces behind Davis—an executive from a certain cryptocurrency trading platform.

This whistleblower disclosed that Davis had invited his company to “assist with Meme coin trading.” What seemed like normal technical support actually concealed a deeper scheme: Davis’s sole goal was “to make money for himself,” instructing “sell as much as possible, even if the price drops to zero.” Regarding Melania’s operations, Davis even demanded “anonymous selling.”

The whistleblower ultimately identified the real key figure as the actual head of a platform called Meteora—a mysterious person using a “space cat” avatar, codenamed “Meow.” Although this platform does not specialize in Meme coins, the meme tokens for Trump, Melania, and Libra were all initially launched there.

Identity Revelation: Singaporean Businessman’s “Financial Utopia” Dream

Following the trail, Meow’s true identity emerged—Ming Yeow Ng, a Singaporean in his forties. Besides co-founding the Meteora trading platform, he developed the popular trading app Jupiter. According to data from a cryptocurrency research firm, about 90% of the platform’s $134 million revenue over the past year came from Meme coin trading.

Ng denied any misconduct in an interview, claiming Meteora only provides “technical support” and does not “regulate the intentions of issuers.” He argued that his decentralized platform aims to “allow anyone to issue any token,” not “judge the motives of issuers.” When asked about Davis, he said he had only met him once and was unaware of what he was doing.

But his philosophical stance is quite interesting: during the interview, he emphasized that “the US dollar itself is a meme coin,” because the value of all financial assets is based on “people’s shared belief.” He envisioned a system called “GUM,” believing that creating new currencies is key to achieving a “more equal future.” In his website articles, he compared issuing cryptocurrencies to “founding religions,” saying it only takes “a new symbol, plus corresponding communities and stories” to do so.

To put it plainly, he told reporters: “This world wants to make money immediately, to get rich without working.” The cryptocurrency market is just a “microcosm” reflecting this reality.

Insights from Wallet Tracking: “Legal Fraud” Under Lack of Regulation

Although blockchain transaction records are anonymous, they leave traceable footprints. Experts, analyzing which wallet bought what, transaction times, and fund flows, discovered a pattern: insiders buy in advance with inside information, then sell quickly after prices surge, maximizing profits. This is called “insider trading” in traditional stock markets—illegal without question—but in the Meme coin market, no one seems to care.

One month after Trump’s inauguration, the US SEC announced it would “not regulate Meme coins,” merely stating that “other fraud laws may apply.” So far, no other regulatory agencies or prosecutors have intervened. This wallet-tracking investigation should have prompted law enforcement action but ultimately fell silent.

Lawyers point out that the behind-the-scenes operators of the Meme coin craze have profited hundreds of millions of dollars by exploiting “uninformed traders.” Currently, two lawsuits are ongoing: one accuses an issuing platform of being an “insider-manipulated casino”; another sues Davis and the trading platform, alleging multiple instances of “pump and dump” scams. But so far, no lawsuits have accused Trump or other national leaders of misconduct.

Conflict of Interest Spread: From Meme Coins to Diversified Power Rent-Seeking

As the Meme coin craze wanes, the Trump family has shifted focus to a “diversified conflict of interest portfolio.” The president is pushing a plan for the “US government to acquire Bitcoin as strategic reserves”; his son Eric owns a Bitcoin mining company; the government’s military deals with Saudi Arabia are linked to the Trump brand licensing in Jeddah waterfront skyscrapers; the president also pardoned a co-founder of a digital asset exchange that supported one of Trump’s other crypto projects.

All participants deny any conflicts of interest.

Epilogue: A Few Profiting Handsomely, the Majority Losing Everything

By the end of the year, TRUMP had fallen 92% from its peak to $5.9; MELANIA plummeted 99%, remaining at just $0.11—almost worthless. The total trading volume of Meme coins dropped 92% from January’s peak. Investors were repeatedly “harvested” until their funds were exhausted.

Davis became a “discarded pawn” in the industry; social media accounts stopped updating, but blockchain data shows his wallet is still active. Ng updated his identity—Meteora issued its own cryptocurrency in October, with a total market cap exceeding $300 million.

As long as key participants remain silent, it’s difficult to determine exactly how they profited huge sums from ordinary investors’ wallets in such a short time. In the stock market, regulators can scrutinize transaction records and request private information to find market manipulation evidence. But in the Meme coin realm, such regulatory actions are currently impossible.

This is not the first, nor will it be the last.