The trading volume of the meme coin LUCE, which reached $60 million in just one day, surged sharply following the death of Pope Francis. This interest in the token on the crypto market was driven by active betting on the successor to the pontiff on the Myriad Markets platform.
This is reported by Finway
The meme coin LUCE, created on the Solana blockchain in November 2024 and inspired by a character from the advertising campaign for the Holy Year 2025 in the Vatican, increased by 45% in one day. Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88 due to a stroke and cardiovascular failure. The cryptocurrency community is commenting on this situation, noting:
“This may contradict church teachings, but crypto degenerates are not going to stop”
.
Despite the lack of an official connection between LUCE and the Vatican, the token has around 44,800 holders. At the time of writing, its price was $0.1157, according to TradingView. The peak value of the asset reached $0.30 last November, which is 63% higher than the current price.
According to CoinMarketCap, the trading volume to market capitalization ratio of the meme coin increased by 345.5% in one day, although the market capitalization fell by 42%.
On the Myriad Markets betting platform, owned by Dastan, nearly 40% of the votes are distributed among various candidates for the position of the new Pope. Cardinal Pietro Parolin from Italy received over 37% of the votes, while Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines received 23%. The papal conclave to elect the new head of the Catholic Church will begin within the next three weeks.
Pope Francis had previously criticized excessive automation and the use of artificial intelligence. In 2023, he referred to AI as
“the highest stake of our future”
, emphasizing that technology should
“serve the best in humanity”
. The Pope also expressed the view that
“no machine should ever make decisions about taking a human life”
.
Currently, the Base service, associated with the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, has launched a meme coin called Base is for everyone, which is part of a “public experiment”.