Crypto traders are once again betting on the very serious business of presidential politics via very silly meme coins, including one for Vice President Kamala Harris that more than doubled in price Sunday.
KAMA hit an all-time high of 2.4 cents in the minutes following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he was dropping his re-election campaign. With a market cap of $24 million, KAMA is now nearly four times as large as the Biden-inspired coin BODEN, once the kingmaker crypto of so-called PolitiFi. BODEN fell by nearly 50% following Biden’s announcement.
The political shake-up prompted traders to create a wave of new tokens lampooning Harris and Biden on the meme coin launchpad Pump.fun. If history is any guide, most of those tokens will likely crater in value as buyers and sellers play a game of order book chicken atop the Solana (SOL) blockchain, where most meme coins trade.
Biden endorsed Harris’ campaign for president. So did former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and crypto-critic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
“I am honored to have the President’s endorsement and my intention is to earn and win this nomination,” Harris said in a statement. “I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party – and unite our nation – to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda.”
UPDATE (July 21, 2024, 20:33 UTC): Adds Kamala Harris’ statement and endorsements.
Edited by Nick Baker.