- Eric Trump continues to tease a forthcoming crypto project.
- Several politically themed memecoins skyrocketed after his latest comments.
- Joke cryptocurrencies have become weathervanes for political winds this year.
A Donald Trump-themed memecoin surged almost 200% in the last 24 hours after the former president’s second son again teased an upcoming crypto project.
It was not alone: several other politically-themed memecoins skyrocketed after Eric Trump talked with the New York Post about the Trump organisation’s upcoming crypto project without providing new details about it.
When it comes to the ups and downs of joke cryptocurrencies, the ultimate cause of the latest market swings is hard to pinpoint — they could’ve just as easily been moved by Donald Trump’s latest attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris on the economy or the chat he had with Elon Musk.
Whatever the reason, this time, it’s been enough to send the one-month-old Maga People Token soaring overnight.
It’s not the first time politically-themed memecoins have responded to election headlines.
This year, they have become a weathervane for where political winds are blowing.
Winners and losers
Conversely, Kamala Horris has gained almost 3% over the past 24 hours.
In the day since the New York Post article with Eric Trump was published, several political memecoins have jumped.
Pepe (Trump) rose over 149%, and Fight to MAGA jumped 20%
Others did not fare as well. DJT, the Trump-themed coin former pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli flogged this summer, fell 29%.
Similarly, Dark MAGA and MAGA (Trump) dropped almost 11% and 2% respectively.
Memecoins frenzy
Memecoins propensity for violent market swings makes Bitcoin’s price look rock-solid. Moreover, they seemingly serve no other purpose than to provide a space for speculation.
Still, memecoins are big business.
The total market is worth over $39.4 billion and saw $4.1 billion in trading volumes alon over the past 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data. Crypto project Pump.fun, a no-code tool that lets anyone spin up a memecoin on Solana, was so popular at one point that its daily revenues overtook all of Ethereum’s on July 2.
Political joke coins — a subcategory to celebrity-based memecoins — have been key to the hype this year.
Modelled after real-life politicians like Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris or crypto adversary Senator Elizabeth Warren, these tokens usually involve misspelt names and unflattering caricatures of the people they are based on.
None of these memecoins has any official links to their real-life influences. Yet, the market is treating them as bellwethers for where political winds are blowing.
For instance, the Donald Trump-themed memecoin TRUMP jumped almost 48% in the days after the Republican presidential candidate survived an assassination attempt. Several of its ilk enjoyed similar jumps after the Supreme Court ruled Donald Trump could not be prosecuted for his official acts as president.
Similarly, Kamala Horris surged some 131% after President Joe Biden bowed out of the presidential race and named Harris his heir apparent.
Eric Johansson is DL News’ News Editor. Got a tip? Email at eric@dlnews.com.
