Election-themed meme coins caricaturing U.S. politicians have surged overnight, in the wake of former president Donald Trump's meeting with holders of his NFT collection.
Leading the pack was Solana-based meme coin Doland Tremp (TREMP), which hit $0.69 after jumping a whopping 155% over the past 24 hours. Ethereum-based meme coin MAGA (TRUMP) also rose by 42% overnight, to its current price of $6.11.
On the other side of the political aisle, Jeo Boden (BODEN) also rose by a more modest 23.2%, to $0.37. The meme coin caricaturing Joe Biden saw gains despite Trump declaring that, "I don't like that investment" in his Q&A session with holders of the Trump NFT collection.
The BODEN and TREMP meme coins shot to prominence earlier this year, surging to a market capitalization of $473 million and $83 million respectively in April, before tumbling to their current market capitalizations of $246 million and $67 million.
Upon hearing that a meme coin poking fun at his political rival was worth over $240 million, Trump called it "a lot of money for a coin."
Meme coins, cryptocurrencies based on internet memes and current events, typically have limited liquidity and high volatility linked to their prominence in news cycles. The BODEN and TREMP meme coins are part of the "Spoderman Politicians" series, originally inspired by the Spoderman meme—a crudely-drawn Microsoft Paint character that appeared in a series of online comics.
Trump meets NFT holders
Trump met with holders of his Trump Trading Card NFT collection at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida late Wednesday, declaring that he would stop "hostility towards crypto" that he claimed was causing crypto firms to leave the U.S.
The former U.S. president and 2024 hopeful, currently embroiled in a number of criminal and civil court cases, added that the Democratic Party and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chair Gary Gensler are "very much against" crypto, "but I'm good with it."
Trump, who added that he would welcome campaign donations in crypto, has performed something of an about-face regarding cryptocurrency. While in office in 2019, he declared himself "not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies," adding that they are "highly volatile," "based on thin air," and "not money."