Presidential Campaign MEME First: Trump Coin's Initial Victory, Need to Beware of Multiple MEMEs as Pixiu盘
For Meme coin players, the reason for short-term speculation on campaign themes is merely the pursuit of social hot topics. In the long run, it resembles a gamble on the next U.S. presidential candidate.Author: Frank, PANews
In the year of the U.S. presidential election, the crypto world has also jumped on the presidential MEME bandwagon. On May 9, news broke that U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump announced he is accepting campaign donations in the form of cryptocurrency. This news sparked widespread discussion in the crypto community, along with a surge in various Trump-themed MEME coins.
Perhaps to further gain the support of the crypto community, Trump pointed out: "Biden doesn’t even know what cryptocurrency is; if you like cryptocurrency, you better vote for Trump." Trump also promised to stop the U.S. hostility towards cryptocurrency and embrace it. Following the widespread dissemination of this statement, the crypto space experienced a wave of speculation on presidential-themed MEME coins.
Biden or Trump? Whose MEME is More Powerful?
From the perspective of trading volume and overall market capitalization, Trump's MEME coins are clearly more appealing. For instance, the most well-known Trump MEME coin is called Trump (project name MAGA, MAKE CRYPTO GREAT AGAIN), which, as of May 17, has 33,000 holders and a market cap of $410 million, making it one of the top ten MEME coins by market cap according to CoinGecko. In contrast, the Biden-related MEME coin, Boden, has a market cap of about $310 million.
In fact, as early as March this year, right after the Super Tuesday primaries, the MEME competition between Trump and Biden had already begun on the Solana chain. However, at that time, tools like Pump for mass token issuance had not yet entered the public eye, so the competition mainly focused on the TRUMP and Boden MEME coins.
This time, the competition has mainly shifted to the Solana chain, where there are currently seven Trump-related MEME coins listed on Pump with a market cap exceeding $100,000.
Among them, PepeTrump, launched on April 17, is currently the most successful Trump-themed MEME coin on Pump, peaking at a market cap of about $60 million, and currently valued at $6.79 million. In comparison, Biden-themed MEME coins lack such strong market appeal. The highest market cap Biden-themed MEME coin is Biden2024, with a market cap of only $30,000, which has dropped over 90% since a brief spike on April 17.
The Two with the Highest Gains are Ponzis
Although market trends change daily, for events with longer-lasting relevance, early MEME coins seem to have a stronger correlation with the hot topics.
Taking Trump-themed MEME tokens as an example, the most popular related coins in the market are mostly those created two months or even earlier, such as the highest market cap TRUMP, which was created nine months ago. Recently launched Trump-themed MEME coins have not made it into the top ten by trading volume.
Moreover, among the Trump-themed MEMEs created in the past seven days, the two tokens with the highest increases are also Ponzis. Perhaps this can serve as a reminder to MEME players who are keen on speculating on new hot topics that MEME coins are not always about new over old. Sometimes, MEME coins that have lasted longer may have a stronger foothold in long-term trends due to higher consensus and lower trust costs.
MEME Players Only Chase Trends, and Presidents are Just Material for Speculation
On May 9, Trump hosted a private dinner at his estate, specifically inviting "superhero" NFT buyers to attend the event. According to CoinDesk reporters, Trump is not an expert in cryptocurrency but rather an expert in selling cryptocurrency.
Additionally, a previous poll released by the tech research investment firm Paradigm in March 2024 indicated that most cryptocurrency owners plan to vote for former President Donald Trump rather than current President Joe Biden. Among them, 48% of cryptocurrency owners plan to vote for Trump, while 39% plan to vote for Biden. The poll also revealed that currently, 19% of American voters hold cryptocurrency, making crypto holders a very important target for presidential campaigns. For players involved in speculating on presidential-themed MEME coins, candidates with a higher chance of winning also mean that their themed tokens may see greater price increases.
However, the popularity of MEMEs does not seem to have a direct correlation with the election itself. For MEME coin players, most are concerned with the short-term correlation of MEME coins to hot topics and whether they can influence token price trends. As for who becomes president, it does not hold significant meaning for MEME players in a certain sense.
The reason Trump-themed MEME coins outperform Biden-themed ones may stem more from Trump's personal influence on social media. According to the Arkham platform, Trump is the second most followed crypto asset holder on the X platform (the first being Justin Bieber). Trump's team previously launched three series of Trump Digital Trading Cards, which have collectively generated millions of dollars in sales, indicating that Trump's team is indeed more knowledgeable in the field of crypto assets.
Regarding who is closer to the crypto world, Trump or Biden, there are differing interpretations in the market. On one hand, the Biden administration has issued numerous restrictive regulations on the crypto industry, such as the 2022 cryptocurrency regulatory framework and the wash sale rules for cryptocurrencies from 2024 to 2025, along with the recent SEC's multi-line lawsuits against several crypto giants, reflecting a tightening regulatory attitude towards the crypto industry. On the other hand, according to CNN, Biden and the Democratic Party's second-largest donor, James McClough, are also seasoned players in cryptocurrency trading. They have shown a keen interest in the federal government's digital currency policies in recent years, even calling for the SEC to list Bitcoin on the New York Stock Exchange.
During his previous term, Trump also expressed skepticism about the value of cryptocurrency. Therefore, before the results of the next U.S. presidential election are announced, both candidates' attitudes towards the crypto space remain uncertain. For MEME coin players, the short-term speculation on campaign themes is merely a pursuit of social hot topics. In the long run, it resembles a gamble on the next U.S. presidential candidate.
