Donald Trump’s election victory wiped out PolitiFi meme tokens

While Bitcoin (BTC) rallied to an all-time high, political meme tokens had a paradoxical reaction. The relatively low-value tokens, which ran hot before the election, saw a huge sell-off after Donald Trump’s election victory.

PolitiFi tokens, which were quick to rally on any drama before the US elections, had a big sell-off after the results were in. The last few days saw heightened activity for PolitiFi and adjacent tokens, but also warnings of traders preparing to cash out.

The tokens had little claim to seriousness but reflected Internet trends and hype. The recent market slide was a case of ‘selling the news’, which could lead to an extinction event for some types of PolitiFi tokens. The PolitiFi sector crashed despite the BTC move to a new all-time high . 

Kamala Horris (KAMA), the main humorous meme, lost 92% of its value, while other Kamala-dedicated tokens are down as much as 99%. 

At least in the short term, some of the PolitiFi memes have ran their course, or at least saw its mission as completed. In the past day, most political tokens lost as much as 40% of their value, as their meme energy has dissipated. Others are trending in their place, reflecting the latest events and Internet trends from the immediate post-election period. 

New meme tokens are trending in the immediate post-election period. | Source: DexScreener

As a whole, PolitiFi tokens lost 13.63% of their total market cap, down to $501M. Across the board, the market saw a steep sell-off, from the main MAGA (TRUMP) token to the list of smaller humorous assets. The sell-off happened after an exceptionally strong few hours as the election counting was still ongoing. 

The PolitiFi meme token is now recalibrating to track Trump’s post-election actions and challenges. There were a few exceptions among memes that defied the market trend. 

Daddy Trump (TADDY) rallied by 139% in the last day, up to $0.00025. Department of Gov Efficiency, a relatively new token, rose by 145% to $0.53. Other risky Trump-themed tokens are being launched, with up to 10,000% in their initial stage. The top token, ConstitutionDAO (PEOPLE) remained relatively stable at $0.065, with a slight daily gain of 2.5%. The token is also considered a potential star for the post-election period.

Memes remain hot, funds shift to animal and cult tokens

The sell-off is not new for some of the assets, as they are extremely volatile. However, a shift in political discourse may remove the relevance of some tokens, while amplifying others. The PolitiFi drop arrives at a time when memes as a whole are running hot and valued at a yearly peak. Animal tokens and older coins like DOGE are rallying, raising their total valuation above $66B. 

Meme tokens rose, led by DOGE as a proxy for political events. | Source: Coinmarketcap

Some of the classic memes are also behaving similar to PolitiFi tokens. DOGE is a de facto proxy for Elon Musk’s statements and newfound politics-adjacent career. DOGE rallied by more than 11%, leaving DOGE above $0.16.

In a reverse trend to PolitiFi, general meme tokens rose by more than 13% across the board, with a boost for cult and movement tokens like POPCAT and WIF. The biggest drive for cult status came from SPX6900 (SPX), which rallied above $0.89 again. SPX added more than 27% to its price in the past day. 

Did the elections pave a way for a meme super cycle? 

The expectation for meme tokens is to grow into a super cycle, tapping overall enthusiasm and mainstream investments. Murad Mahmudov is mostly keeping track on a shortlist of old and new memes, which he believes are ready for a meme super cycle .

Mahmudov compares memes to legacy tokens like Cardano (ADA), which continue to command a higher valuation despite low adoption. Based on that metric, he believes the top meme tokens have a much higher upside, if they achieve wide Internet popularity.

Skeptics see memes as still capable of crashing. Mahmudov is careful to pick up cults and movements with the potential for online longevity. Despite this, meme tokens remain volatile in the short term, with deep drawdowns as whales still cash out.