Hayden Davis, a 28-year-old crypto entrepreneur from Texas, has said he was involved in the launch of $MELANIA. Davis, who was listed as chief executive of Kelsier, a crypto business, was also involved in the launch of the $LIBRA memecoin. This token, which was briefly endorsed in February by Javier Milei, the president of Argentina, turned into a political scandal after a price surge and crash.

The first account to buy coins in the run-up to launch bought $40,000 of $MELANIA 141 seconds prior to launch. The account went on to sell 86 per cent of its holding within two hours, making $2.5mn.

The FT has confirmed findings by Bubblemaps, a crypto analytics platform, that this wallet was funded via an account which has previously been used in ventures involving Davis.