Trump MAGA Meme Coins Are the First Experiment in ‘PoliFi’

One
day,
the
Donald
Trump-themed
MAGA
coin,
which
surged
nearly
400%
over
the
last
month
according
to

CoinGecko
data,
and
boasts
a
market
cap
of
over
$285
million,
might
enter
the
meme
coin
hall
of
fame
alongside
the
category’s
canine
icons.

“My
intention
is
really
to
have
this
up
there
with
a
DOGE
or
SHIB,
that
kind
of
scale
and
market
cap
and
popularity,”
the
project’s
marketing
director,
YouTube
talk
show
host
Steven
Steele,
said
in
an
interview
with
CoinDesk.

It
might
sound
absurd,
but
this
is
crypto.

Remember,
those
two
dog-themed
meme
coins
have
market
caps
well
into
the
billions,
but
they
started
as
jokes.
As
memes.
Since
then,
Shiba
Inu
stewards
have
floated
Shibarium,
their
own
blockchain
ecosystem,
while
the
Dogecoin
community
is
similarly
working
on
several
real-world
use
cases.

Meme
coins
are
a
polarizing
issue
in
crypto.
For
some,
they
represent
the
worst,
most
“degenerate”
aspects
of
the
global
crypto
casino
while
for
others,
they
capture
the
lighthearted
spirit
that
comes
with
the
herculean
task
of
trying
to
reinvent
the
global
financial
system
—
an
ethos
the
Avalanche
Foundation
captured
recently
when
saying
it
would
invest
in
these
community-building
in-jokes.

See
also:



Avalanche
Foundation
to
Purchase
Meme
Coins

It’s
a
divide
many
meme
coin
projects
are
trying
to
mend
by
directing
their
tokens
toward
useful
purposes
(or
saying
they
are).

Steele
said
that
his
Trump
coins
actually
have
a
form
of
utility.
It’s
the
first
chapter
of
an
experiment
in
PoliFi,
merging
politics,
finance,
and
community.
(The
name
is
a
portmanteau
a
la
DeFi,
short
for
decentralized
finance.)

Apparently,
Steele
noted,
whenever
there’s
been
a
major
event
involving
Trump,
there
has
been
“a
direct
correspondence
in
the
value
of
the
coin,”
making
it
a
prediction
market
of
sorts.

“It’s
evolved
to
become
this
kind
of
de
facto
betting
market
on
the
election
for
many
investors,”
Steele
said.
The
supposed
accuracy
of
the
coin
movements
is
the
most
amusing
part
of
this
great
big
joke,
for
Steele.

While
there
are
prediction
market
contracts
that
would
allow
a
trader
to
monetize
their
belief
in
the
success
of
the
Trump
campaign,
Kang
argued
that
this
token
offers
a
superior
rate
or
return.
Call
it
a
value
proposition,
so
to
speak.
Prediction
markets
have
been
accused
the
same
sort
of
degeneracy
as
meme
coins.
While
being
a
useful
hedge
against
macroeconomic
calamity,
there
are
plenty
of
contracts
out
there
for
the
absurd,
such
as
the
date
of
Taylor
Swift’s
possible
pregnancy
announcement
or
if
John
McAfee
is
still
alive.

See
also:



What
Prediction
Markets
Are
Forecasting
for
Crypto
in
2024

“Prediction
markets
do
not
offer
the
same
return
potential
or
profile
as
meme
coins,”
he
said.
“While
it
is
possible
to
achieve
100x
or
1,000x
returns
with
meme
coins
like
TRUMP,
prediction
markets
are
not
liquid
enough
to
generate
nine-figure
returns.”

On
the
prediction
market
Polymarket,

a
contract
regarding
Trump’s
chances
of
winning
the
presidency
has
over
$6
million
in
liquidity
with
some
bets
well
over
a
half-million
dollars.

In
contrast,
an
open
bet
about
President
Joseph
Biden’s
chances
of
winning
re-election
–
effectively
the
same
question
but
reversed
–
has
just
under
$4.5
million
in
liquidity.

Biden
coins
have
been
attempted,
but
none
of
them
have
really
“caught
fire”
as
Steele
puts
it.

On-chain
data
supports
this.
The
largest
Biden
meme
coin
has
a

market
cap
of
$340,000,
and
its
chain
activity
looks
like
a
relative
ghost
town
in
comparison
with

1,500
holders
versus
the

7,433
for
TRUMP
(which
is
the

largest
holding
in
the
former
president’s
wallet
identified
by
Arkham).

It’s
not
quite
clear
whether
the
relative
success
of
meme
coins
is
an
accurate
way
to
test
the
temperature
of
a
candidate’s
prospects
—
in
the
way
some
view
prediction
markets.

While
token
holders
certainly
have
“skin
in
the
game,”
in
a
sense,
bettors
aren’t
trying
to
adjudicate
any
likely
outcome
outside
of
whether
the
price
will
go
up.

It
could
be
that
meme
coin
holders
have
a
sense
of
degeneracy
not
found
in
prediction
market
bettors,
simply
because
at
the
end
of
the
prediction
market
contract,
the
value
of
the
losing
side
goes
to
zero.
Trump
coins
might
have
life
after
November
5,
2024.

“In
the
meme
scene,
people
want
a
rabble-rouser,
someone
exciting
and
unpredictable,
perceived
as
a
total
rebel,”
Steele
said.
“Trump
embodies
all
of
those
qualities
in
the
eyes
of
many.”

As
for
the
project’s
roadmap,
well,
that’s
the
election
season.

“The
roadmap
is
tied
to
election-related
events,
particularly
those
involving
Donald
Trump.
As
the
election
season
heats
up,
he’s
going
to
provide
plenty
of
fodder,”
Steele
said.
For
the
terminally
online,
there’s
something
particularly
captivating
about
Trump,
a
natural
gravity
towards
him.

And
just
as
Trump
inadvertently
gives
value
to
the
litany
of
unsanctioned
Donald-themed
coins,
the
MAGA
coin
team
is
trying
to
give
back
to
Trump’s
fanbase.

See
also:



Trump:
Bitcoin
Has
Taken
on
‘a
Life
of
Its
Own,’

Steele
said
that
one
of
the
activities
that
the
decentralized
autonomous
organization
(DAO)
behind
the
MAGA
coin
has
been
doing
is
“sweeping
the
floor”
of
the
first
series
of
official
Trump-themed
non-fungible
tokens
(NFTs),
used
as
a
fundraising
tool
by
the
former
president,
to
build
interest
in
both
his
unofficial
token
and
official
NFT
series.

“That’s
been
pretty
successful
because
we’ve
really
focused
on
Series
One
of
Trump’s
official
NFTs,
where
the
floor
price
wasn’t
that
impressive
until
we
started
sweeping
the
floor.
This
has
caused
a
resurgence
and
excitement
among
his
NFT
holders,”
he
said.

Steele
also
said
that
some
of
the
proceeds
from
MAGA
coin
sales
go
to
charitable
endeavors
that
assist
victims
of
child
trafficking
and
shelter
homeless
veterans.

NFTs
and
DAOs
have
long
been
touted
as
enabling
online
communities
and
providing
a
way
for
these
groups
to
monetize
their
memberships.

Yuga
Labs
is
testing
exactly
this
with
its
collection
of
Bored
Ape
Yacht
Club
NFTs,
which
act
as
tickets
to
real-life
events.

But
it’s
hard
to
articulate
what
the
BAYC
NFT
community
stands
for.
Certainly,
there’s
a
shared
interest
in
crypto,
but
that’s
a
fairly
broad
topic.
And
some
things
in
the
BAYC
universe
have
fallen
flat,
like
the

Kingship
ape
band
which
lacks
a
critical
mass
of
traffic
on
its
videos.

Sinking
floor
prices
would
suggest
the
community
has
its
attention
focused
elsewhere.

In
contrast,

much
has
been
written
about
the

kinship
of
Trump
supporters.
Be
it
political
and
economic
disenfranchisement,
conservative
politics
or
a
shared
love
of
trolling,
Trump

has
a
vote
that
sticks.
Consider
that
the

day
of
Trump’s
indictment
was
one
of
his

best
yet
for
fundraising.

However,
not
all
Trump
token
holders
are
part
of
this
club.
They
aren’t
necessarily
voters.

It’s
crypto,
and
when
the
number
goes
up
people
buy
in.

“It’s
kind
of
a
rallying
cry
for
people
who
are
Trump
enthusiasts,
but
also,
we
have
a
fair
amount
of
investors
who
aren’t
necessarily
Trump
fans,
either
they
just
see
what
they
perceive
to
be
a
great
investment,”
Steele
said.

In
February,
Mechanism
Capital’s
Andrew
Kang

laid
out
his
non-partisan
investment
thesis
for
the
Trump
token.

The
investment
is
based
on
the
attention
economy,
with
Trump
being
a
constant
in
the
news
cycle
due
to
the
U.S.
primary
elections
and
his
provocative
nature.
The
bet
is
on
his
continuous
media
presence,
not
just
his
potential
election
win,
Kang
wrote
on
X.

The
bet
is
on
his
continuous
media
presence,
not
just
his
potential
election
win,
and
Trump
is
probably
one
of
the
best
attention
monopolizers
in
the
world,”
Kang
wrote
on
X.

In
an
interview
with
CoinDesk,
Kang
said
that
a
“surprising
number”
of
fund
managers
and
VCs
have
reached
out
to
express
interest
in
the
Trump
coin,
calling
the
attention
token
a
subcategory
of
altcoins.

See
also:



Ex-President
Trump
Calls
CBDCs
and
AI
‘Dangerous’

“Sharp
investors
and
traders
are
always
looking
for
the
next
coin
that
will
drive
the
greatest
returns
and
recognize
that
Trump
fits
that
bill
well,
given
his
ability
to
galvanize
attention,”
he
said,
adding
that
professional
token
investors
are
alongside
die-hard
MAGA
supporters
in
their
HODLing.

Post-election
–
which
Kang
says
Trump
will
win
–
there
might
be
a
“sell
the
news”
effect
if
the
coin
has
experienced
significant
growth.

“However,
I
anticipate
a
period
of
consolidation
following
his
election
victory,
similar
to
how
dogecoin
behaved
after
it
became
associated
with
Elon
Musk,”
he
said.

As
for
his
personal
support
for
the
former
president,
Kang
said
he
personally
hates
politics.

“I
don’t
like
spending
my
time
thinking
about
it
or
having
discussions
around
politics,”
he
said.
“Trump
is
entertaining
enough
for
me
to
get
over
that.”

Shaurya
Malwa
contributed
to
this
report.