Simply put
- Meteora launched its token on Thursday, distributing MET to users. The project claims it worked to prevent “malicious bad actors” from receiving these tokens.
- The airdrop, valued at $1.2 million, went to two wallets linked to the controversial Melania Trump meme coin, igniting concerns among cryptocurrency watchers.
- Additionally, three wallets associated with President Trump’s meme coin received a total of $4.2 million in MET tokens.
On Thursday, Meteora conducted an airdrop, sending $1.2 million worth of MET tokens into two wallets related to Melania Trump’s meme coin. This has raised fresh worries in the crypto community, especially since Meteora’s former project leader is facing a class action lawsuit involving the token.
According to SolScan, one wallet labeled as part of the official Melania meme entity received $784,200, while another received $454,724 in MET tokens, totaling around $1.23 million. Both wallets transferred their funds to another address shortly after.
A user on X questioned the airdrop, asking, “Why would Hayden Davis be airdropped into the Met? Must be a joke,” referring to the CEO of Kelsier Ventures, who was involved in the MELANIA launch.
Meteora’s co-lead Soju noted that just an hour before the MELANIA-linked wallets received tokens, they had highlighted that wallets associated with LIBRA would not be receiving any.
Benjamin Chow, co-founder of Meteora, has been named in a court filing as being involved in a “scam coin” scheme linked to at least 15 tokens, including MELANIA, LIBRA, and ENRON, all of which plummeted shortly after their introduction. Interestingly, while the operation was branded as Meteora, it functioned separately from the genuine automated market-making side of the business. Chow is not in a leadership position at Meteora.
Only a couple of days after President Trump announced the meme coin in January, the MELANIA token saw a quick surge to a market cap of nearly $7 billion but then sharply dropped to $80 million, a 99% decline.
In February, Argentina’s President Javier Millei was associated with similar meme coins, and a class action lawsuit has been filed regarding fraud linked to Melania.
Following this, Nyah, a co-founder, stepped down from Meteora, citing poor judgment. Investors allege that Chow played a key role in launching MELANIA and LIBRA, among others.
Soju mentioned that Meteora was collaborating with detectives on chain data and anti-fraud measures to thwart tokens from reaching malicious actors. However, it appears that a wallet related to Melania Trump managed to fall through the cracks.
Soju, Meteora, and the other entities mentioned did not provide immediate comments.
The launch of Meteora’s token has received some praise, with sentiments expressed on social media about the smoothness of the process and bag sizes. Currently, MET ranks as the 269th largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap of $263.2 million.
However, not everyone is pleased. Many have expressed frustration that Meteora distributed a significant airdrop to three wallets linked to President Trump’s Meme Coin team. According to Arkham Intelligence, these wallets were among the top recipients of the $4.2 million MET airdrop. Unfortunately, they have since transferred their tokens to OKX, obscuring any further tracking of their movements on the blockchain.
While President Trump’s meme coin has not been directly implicated in the fraud lawsuit, it has faced political scrutiny due to allegations of conflicts of interest and potential foreign influence.
Kyle Trimble from Delphi Digital commented that, “The suit will disappear. Fast.”
