MAGATRON and Kamacop 9000: Meet political meme coins

All roads lead to Dogecoin (DOGE)

First thing first: We’re dealing with meme coins here. 

Unless you’ve been living off grid all this time, meme coins have long made it to the crypto scene. In fact, DOGE, the first meme coin to ever exist, turned 11 in 2024. It is based on the popular “Doge” internet meme featuring a Shiba Inu dog that has a very special vocabulary of its own. Like “much wow” and “such fun.”

Other famous examples include Shiba Inu (SHIB) which was officially launched in August 2020 by a certain Ryoshi. And Pepe the Coin ($PEPE), which was a big crypto household name in 2023 – for reasons both good and bad. 

All those coins are not only hugely popular, but have also received support from prominent figures like Elon Musk who has recurrently boosted Dogecoin’s price through tweets on X (formerly Twitter). They are also featured in the current CoinMarketCap top 15 coins market capitalization-wise.

The bond between the two is so strong that even the newly-created department of the Department of Government Efficiency, a proposed advisory commission for streamlining federal operations announced by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and is slated to be led by Musk and wealthy businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, has the DOGE acronym. 

Political meme coins are just a variation of meme coins.

What makes them stand out is their focus is on all things political and, naturally, meme-related. They always reflect the most  pertinent political events and figures while poking fun at them.  

Just think of how the FreeDum Fighter ($DUM) launched a showdown between two ‘mechanized’ political figures MAGATRON and Kamacop 9000 (yup, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, respectively). Not only was it spectacular, but also helped the creators raise $200,000 in just four days. 

So it shouldn’t be surprising that many political meme coins are either Republican or Democrat-related, praising or mocking Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, movements like MAGA. Or promoting catch phrases and political scandals. 

The key to their success however always remains the same: robust community presence on platforms such as Reddit or X.

Ok, but what’s their purpose?  

Much like that of meme coins.

Like them, political meme coins also lack intrinsic value. Their primary purpose is to entertain the public and build the community around certain projects for publicity. 

Many of them are subject to speculation or hype and are notorious for pump and dump schemes and rug pulls, i.e. when creators abandon the project.

Related: What is Rug Pull and how is it related to scam?

They're also highly volatile, often do not have any road maps or grand vision, and may  misinform or even disinform, spreading and amplifying false narratives about political figures.   

To many, memecoins seem like a waste of time because of these factors. Others, however, argue that they serve a specific purpose as they help people to understand the complex world of cryptocurrencies. Though Bitcoin was launched in 2009, it has yet to go mainstream as people have yet to truly understand how it works or what its purpose is. 

Political meme coins, just like meme coins in general, can partially facilitate this adoption as they are a good way to relay satirical messages, but also because often they’re accompanied by visually appealing, even if  “mememical”, visuals.

Who does the community favor?  

Political meme coins are more focused on Trump rather than Harris or any other world leaders though PUTinCoin, dedicated to Russian ruler Vladimir Putin wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, does exist. 

This is because Donald Trump is significantly more popular in the crypto community compared to Kamala Harris or any other prominent Democrat. Not least because of the US Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC) conduct under the Biden administration, with its Chairman Gary Gensler launching  a crackdown on the crypto industry. This move is deemed so contentious that it prompted 18 Republican Attorney Generals to sue both the SEC and Gensler for allegedly overstepping the agency’s authority in its enforcement actions against the cryptocurrency industry. 

Related: Gary Gensler: The Antihero of Our Time

The fact that Robert Kennedy Jr., known for his embracement of Bitcoin, is slated to join Trump’s administration only boosts the pro-Trump sentiment of the crypto community as he embraced Bitcoin on multiple occasions.

So, which coins are the most interesting?

If you open Coinmarketcap or Coingecko, you’ll see a wide variety of coins that have significant market capitalizations.

One of them is MAGA (Trump), a political coin whose market capitalization stands at $63.29M, according to Coinmarketcap data. Its performance usually correlates with Trump’s activities and news coverage like Trump’s electoral stunts. This includes his appearance as a McDonald's worker and a garbage truck driver in response to Biden’s comment that Trump’s voters are “garbage.”

The coin, which is trading at $1.44 at the time of writing, had a price peak on June 1st  $17.01. Since then, it has been increasingly decreasing in value with occasional rises, especially on November 6 when the results of the election started to flow in. 

Then there’s BIDENCOIN, a coin aimed at counterinfluenceing Trump’s robust impact on the crypto community. Let’s just say that it’s nowhere close to MAGA (Trump) in terms of popularity or value.

In fact, it has none, according to Coinmarketcap stats.

Even the above-mentioned PUTinCoin appears to perform better, trading at $0.0005348 with a market cap of $631.04K. 

These three coins are, however,  just a tiny faction when it comes to what the market has to offer like Constitution DAO, Make America Based Again, Baby Trump Coin, Super Trump Coin and more. 

However, most of them virtually have no value, and with the exception of Constitution DAO, continue to depreciate. 

Related: PolitiFi: Blending Meme Coins with Politics

Anyone but Trump or Harris?

While most political meme coins are indeed focused on the Republican vs. Democrat standoff, some of close associates are also getting an occasional spotlight. 

This includes Tooker Kurlson, a meme coin based on the famous ex-Fox News TV host Tucker Carlson and went on to interview Putin in early 2024 (that interview became famous due to multiple memes based on Carlson’s expressions).

Launched in April 2024, it saw a price peak in early May, when it hit the $0,1325 mark, before going on a downward spiral.

Already in the summer, it drew some criticism from the community, with one reddit user writing:“This project had it all two months ago, Some funny videos. Problem with the shill's On Telegraph Tooker admins have been shilling this project non stop from the all time highs “7 weeks” all the way down to current prices, Even till yesterday, lost some money though not much as others , I think ? Dev team unknown not unusual but not good. BEWARE ?”

Such feedback is not uncommon in the crypto community, especially among the meme coin holders, so we advise that you invest your money with care.

Where do I buy them?

Political meme coins aren’t available on established centralized market exchanges. 

So in order to get them, you need to register on decentralized exchanges (DEXs), i.e. peer-to-peer cryptocurrency transactions that don’t require an intermediary.

For that, you’ll have to set up a wallet like MetaMask, Trust Wallet or another wallet of your choice and purchase the most popular crypto that’ll enable you to buy the memecoins. This includes Ethereum (ETH) and Binance Coin (BNB).

Then it’s up to you which service you opt for. 

It can be Uniswap (for Ethereum-based tokens) or PancakeSwap (for Binance Smart Chain tokens). Once you’re done registering, just connect your wallet and start trading. 

Related: TOP 5 mobile crypto wallets

What to expect from political meme coins?

The current world is becoming increasingly polarized. So there’s a good chance that political tribes will continue to fight zealously against each other, paving the way for more political meme coins.

The only thing that remains unclear is whether they will become something more than entertainment of the day, evolving into something more serious and addressing broader social or economic purposes. 

After all, political meme coins are light and funny so they could be a way to make the youth more politically engaged and actually use them for a socially important purpose though crowdfunding. 

Blockchain technology also plays a role. While over the years it has progressed significantly, it has yet to become sophisticated, fully efficient, and appealing to the greater audience, offering  new functionalities, such as voting systems or social benefits for holders.

One thing is certain: political meme coins can make waves.