Editing PolitiFi

**PolitiFi** is a category of memecoins themed on politicians, elections and political events, mostly issued on Ethereum or [[Solana]], whose prices tend to move with political news.[^1]

## History
Donald Trump has inspired more PolitiFi coins than any other politician; 2024 examples included MAGA (TRUMP), MAGA Hat, [[Doland Tremp]] (TREMP), [[Jeo Boden]] (BODEN), the latter two in the "Spoderman" comic style, and Kamala Horris (KAMA).[^1] Prices tracked events: MAGA fell after Trump's conviction on 34 felony counts and rose after his pro-crypto speech at the Libertarian National Convention, KAMA rose more than 120% before Joe Biden endorsed Kamala Harris, and hundreds of related coins appeared within minutes of the attempt on Trump's life.[^1]

Officially linked political tokens followed. Trump announced [[Official Trump]] (TRUMP) on Truth Social late on 17 January 2025, three days before his inauguration; it reached nearly $12 billion in market value on 20 January, and [[Melania Meme]] (MELANIA) launched two days after TRUMP.[^2] Bloomberg estimated that TRUMP had generated at least $11 million in trading fees by 28 January.[^3] In February 2025 [[Bubblemaps]] linked the creator of [[Libra]], promoted by Argentine president Javier Milei, to the MELANIA team.[^4] Cointelegraph, citing CoinGecko, said political narratives drove the 2024 memecoin rally, before the sector's market cap fell 65% in 2025.[^5]

## Criticism
Decrypt described PolitiFi coins as purely speculative and prone to burning out once a narrative moves on.[^1] Ethics lawyers condemned the Trump coins as profiteering from office; federal conflict-of-interest criminal statutes do not apply to the president or vice president.[^2] See also [[Celebrity memecoins]] and [[Memecoin supercycle]].

## Timeline
- 2025-01-17: Trump announces the TRUMP memecoin[^2]
- 2025-01-19: MELANIA launches[^2]

## References
1. [What is PolitiFi? The Wave of Political Meme Coins](https://decrypt.co/resources/what-is-politifi-the-wave-of-political-meme-coins), Decrypt, 2024-08-06
2. [Donald and Melania Trump launch a pair of meme coins ahead of inauguration, raising serious ethics concerns](https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/article/donald-and-melania-trump-launch-a-pair-of-meme-coins-ahead-of-inauguration-raising-serious-ethics-concerns/), CTV News (CNN), 2025-01-20
3. [Trump memecoin likely generated at least $11 million in fees, analysis shows](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-28/trump-memecoin-likely-generated-at-least-11-million-in-fees-analysis-shows), Bloomberg, 2025-01-28
4. [Bubblemaps links single entity to Libra and Melania memecoins](https://www.theblock.co/post/341238/bubblemaps-links-single-entity-to-libra-and-melania-memecoins), The Block, 2025-02
5. [Memecoins Go From Christmas Cheer to Cold Reality, Sinking 65% in a Year](https://cointelegraph.com/news/memecoins-christmas-2025-yearly-decline), Cointelegraph, 2025-12-26