NEW YORK — Incoming first lady Melania Trump has launched a cryptocurrency on the eve of her husband's inauguration as US president.

The announcement comes a day after President-elect Donald Trump launched the $Trump cryptocurrency. Both coins have risen but have seen volatile trade.

"The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now," she posted on the social platform X on Sunday.

The website for the "Official Melania Meme" says it is a crypto asset created and tracked on the Solana blockchain.

Disclaimers on the websites of both the $Trump and $Melania coins said they were "not intended to be, or the subject of" an investment opportunity or a security.

According to the CoinMarketCap website, $Trump currently has a total market valuation of about $8.7bn (£7.1bn), while $Melania's stands at around $1.3bn.

Trump had previously called crypto a "scam" but during the 2024 election campaign became the first presidential candidate to accept digital assets as donations.

On the campaign trail, Trump also said he would create a strategic bitcoin stockpile and appoint financial regulators that take a more positive stance towards digital assets.

That spurred expectations that he would strip back regulations on the crypto industry.

In the wake of Trump's victory, bitcoin jumped to a record high is currently trading at $140,000, according to crypto trading platform Coinbase.

On Friday, the incoming artificial intelligence (AI) and crypto tsar David Sacks held a "Crypto Ball" in Washington, DC.

Other cryptocurrencies, including dogecoin - which has been promoted by high-profile Trump supporter Elon Musk - have also risen sharply this year.

Under President Joe Biden, regulators cited concerns about fraud and money laundering as they cracked down on crypto companies by suing exchanges. — BBC