The U.S. election battle spreads to the cryptocurrency circle: Trump leads Biden by a wide margin in the meme token field

Donald Trump is far ahead of Joe Biden - at least in the world of political meme tokens.

According to the Wise Finance APP, with the arrival of the November U.S. presidential election, the number and value of cryptocurrency tokens related to former President Trump have surged in recent weeks. Trump and Biden are preparing for the first debate of the 2024 presidential election scheduled for Thursday.

The so-called "PolitiFi" tokens are relatively small in scale, with a total market value of about $1 billion. Most of the tokens are related to Trump, who claims to be a supporter of cryptocurrency, although he has not provided details of his crypto policy.

According to data from the cryptocurrency platform CoinGecko, among the top 10 political meme tokens by market capitalization, 7 tokens are related to Trump, many of which involve Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again," such as the MAGA and MAGA Hat tokens, while only one token (Jeo Boden) is related to Biden.

The largest politically related token, MAGA, was launched at the end of August 2023 and trades on exchanges under the code "TRUM." In June of this year, the token's market value surged from nearly zero at the beginning of the year to $775 million.

The Jeo Boden token skyrocketed to $648 million in the days following its launch in March of this year, then gradually declined to $87 million.

Forrest Przybysz, a cryptocurrency trader and CEO of Sistine Research, said that meme coins are not only highly speculative but also driven by attention cycles.

"The more attention a token can attract and retain, the higher its price usually goes..." he added. "Trump is a magnet for attention. Therefore, he is an ideal target for meme tokens."

"As the U.S. election approaches, we can expect prices and speculation opportunities for meme tokens based on Trump to rise."

Political tokens represent only a small portion of the $46 billion market value of meme tokens. Meme tokens are highly speculative, volatile, and high-risk cryptocurrencies. According to Coingecko, meme tokens themselves make up a niche market of $2.3 trillion in the cryptocurrency space.

CoinGecko stated that 8 out of the top 10 political tokens were launched between May and June of this year, with these tokens typically aiming to capitalize on the increasing attention to political figures before the election.

"Like non-fungible tokens, meme coins are collectibles for collectors. Our idea is to monetize public attention," said Yan Liberman, co-founder of the crypto research firm Delphi Digital.

Trading these tokens is not easy. Meme coins listed on major centralized exchanges like Coinbase or Binance are rare Legitimacy in Doubt

Biden and Trump are neck and neck in nationwide polls. With 5 months to go until the November 5th election, the market is closely watching the debate between the two candidates on Thursday.

Traders on the cryptocurrency website Polymarket are betting 59% on Trump defeating Biden.

Political tokens rely on the popularity of political figures to attract investors, using ironic or humorous names to attract retail investors. Liberman from Delphi Digital stated, "Fun is certainly a huge driver of token performance."

Trump has not endorsed any cryptocurrency issued in his name. However, Liberman noted that Trump's criticism of the Democratic Party's attempts to regulate the crypto industry has increased his popularity in the industry.

Ahead of the U.S. election, the broader crypto industry is spending tens of millions of dollars to support crypto-friendly candidates. Investors Tyler Winklevoss and Cameron Winklevoss donated 2 million USD worth of Bitcoin last week to support Trump, but reports suggest that the donation has been returned as it exceeded the maximum amount allowed by U.S. federal law.

An analyst from Bitfinex stated, "In terms of election outcomes, these tokens have become speculative assets themselves."