Politicians’ Memecoins Drop After Trump and Biden Debate
The reason for the decline was that after weeks of anticipation, neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden mentioned cryptocurrencies during the 90-minute debate.
Hundreds of millions of viewers around the world tuned in to watch the Trump-Biden debate on Thursday night, an event of global interest, especially for the crypto sector. However, in the aftermath of the debate, cryptocurrencies related to both politicians suffered significant declines, reaching double digits.
The “Make America Great Again” TRUMP token began falling about 20 minutes before the debate began at 9pm ET on June 27th, falling 24.6% to USD 7.23 at current prices, according to CoinGecko data shown.
The Jeo Boden token (BODEN) suffered further, falling more than 53% from its June 27 high of $0.17 to $0.08 shortly after the debate. It has partially recovered to USD 0.091.
Super Trump (STRUMP) and BABYTRUMP (BABYTRUMP) also suffered two-digit declines during and after the debate.
The debate touched on current issues such as inflation, the war in Ukraine, immigration, and the January 6th attack on Capitol Hill, but cryptocurrencies were not even indirectly mentioned.
As a result, memecoins associated with Trump and Biden experienced sharp declines after the debate. For example, MAGA fell as much as 24%, while STRUMP and Baby Trump also fell by double digits.
The hardest hit cryptocurrency, however, was the Joe Biden themed cryptocurrency identified as BODEN, which fell as much as 36%.
It is estimated that the cryptocurrency community has already invested at least $200 million in this election. The fact that there is no mention of this shows that crypto viewers were expecting a reference that would drive prices higher.
Why Didn’t Trump and Biden Discuss Cryptocurrencies?
It is likely that neither politician saw fit to address a topic that may still be controversial or unknown to many voters, such as cryptocurrencies.
However, both candidates have shown an interest in them. Donald Trump has met with representatives of the bitcoin mining sector and made controversial promises, such as a possible pardon for the creator of Silk Road.
Many analysts also comment on the strong crypto lobby around Trump’s candidacy, which has led Biden to soften his anti-cryptocurrency stance.
In addition, Fairshake, a political action committee that runs ads against anti-cryptocurrency U.S. lawmakers, reported raising $169 million in the current presidential campaign.
Biden and Trump will have one last opportunity to discuss issues related to the digital asset industry on September 10, when the next debate is scheduled.
Crypto-Gaming Sector Thrives
As meme cryptocurrencies associated with politicians fall, the crypto gambling sector is getting a boost during the presidential campaign. One example is Polymarket, a crypto betting platform.
On this platform, users have accumulated at least $2.5 million in debate-related meme bets. In June, at least 26,000 users wagered about $86 million, a 1,300 percent increase from activity in December 2023. The platform gained notoriety when Donald Trump shared screenshots of bets picking him to win the upcoming election.
Some of the more curious bets included whether Joe Biden would close his eyes for more than three seconds, whether the candidates would shake hands, or who would drink water first. There were also bets on whether Biden would call Trump a “convict” (which he did) or whether Trump would announce his running mate.
By Audy Castaneda