In brief
- JD Vance posted a heavily edited photo of him on X, leading to a Solana meme coin to skyrocket 65% in an hour.
- The token and broader meme spawned after the U.S. Vice President told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy that he needed to thank America for help in the fight against Russia.
- His reposting of the meme is notable as a Norwegian tourist said he was been denied entry to the U.S. for having it on his phone—a claim the Department of Homeland Security denied.
Solana meme coin PWEASE skyrocketed in value by 65% in the hour after U.S. Vice President JD Vance posted the meme that famously pokes fun at him on social media.
The token has since given up much of the gains, dropping 24% to a $4.65 million market capitalization as of this writing, according to DEX Screener.
The Pwease meme spawned in February after Vance told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to say thank you for America’s support in the war against Russia. As the public spat went viral, Vance memes started to flood the internet.
That included an edited image of a bald Vance with bulging eyes, as well as another depicting him as a round-faced child saying, “You have to say pwease and tank you, Mistow Zensky.”
Unsurprisingly, a meme coin spawned from this and soared to a peak market cap of $54 million in early March. It had since fallen 92% to a $4 million market cap as of Tuesday, as the meme faded from the minds of traders.
However, the seven-month-old token was revived on Wednesday after JD Vance posted the meme on social media, in response to political commentator Joy Reid suggesting that the VP may have benefited from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives when getting into Yale University.
It’s also notable that Vance reposted the meme himself, as in June, a 21-year-old Norwegian tourist claimed he was denied entry into the U.S. for having the image of a bald Vance on his phone. The tourist said immigration agents told him it was “very clearly a piece of dangerous, extremist propaganda.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied his claims, and said he was refused entry due to previous drug use.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s official meme coin has traded sideways on the day and is down 9% over the past seven days, according to CoinGecko. The token is now down nearly 90% from its January peak, just days after launching.
It follows the U.S. President’s hour-long speech at the 80th United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, where he claimed he has been “right about everything” and said climate change is the “greatest con job ever.”
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