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People Are Using Memecoins to Bet on the US Election
While a fight over betting on US elections plays out in court, the tech-savvy are gambling hundreds of millions of dollars on cryptocurrencies inspired by politicians.
Tens of political memecoins have been created within the past year; there also are coins modeled after high-profile politicians such as Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. In September, the CFTC denied an application by Kalshi, a New York–based company that runs a market for betting on the outcome of events, to let customers wager on which party would control the two chambers of Congress, which the regulator described as “contrary to the public interest.” Due to what Acheson describes as its “frippery and frivolity” and its embrace of elevated risk, memecoin culture is arguably an extension of the meme finance craze that began in 2021, when amateur investors on Reddit worked together to drive up the price of GameStop and other out-of-favor stocks.
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