Meme is still a Meme, without boundaries, capitalizing on everything and consuming all attention.
Author: Ethan, Odaily Planet Daily
On April 21, according to the latest news from Catholic News Service Rome, Pope Francis passed away at 7:35 AM today, as announced by Cardinal Farrell, the spokesperson for the Vatican. GMGN data shows that the long-established Pope-themed Meme, LUCE, surged by 70% in a short time, with a market value exceeding $15 million, and has now fallen back to $13.87 million.
LUCE K-line "cutting first and reporting later," did the big players know something in advance?
Previously, on April 19, the price of the LUCE token plummeted by 74.54% in a single day, with its market value rapidly shrinking from tens of millions of dollars. On-chain data shows that an early whale account, after floating a profit of $5.2 million, failed to sell in time and ultimately incurred a loss of $335,000. On the same day, several meme tokens (such as MANEKI, JELLYJELLY, AIDOGE) also experienced flash crashes, sparking widespread discussion. For a period afterward, the price of LUCE stabilized around $0.00887 and remained on the Binance Alpha list.
At 4:07 AM on April 19, community contributor Lavanda Garrison stated in the official Telegram community that the community takeover team (CTO) had not clarified the reason for the flash crash, suspecting it might be due to a large holder selling off.
On the same day at 4:42 AM, community member @berly_off pointed out that the sell-off timing and methods of LUCE, MANEKI, and AIDOGE were very similar, speculating that they might share a market maker; these tokens are listed on major exchanges like OKX or Bybit and may have been sold off in large quantities through market makers. Similar situations had previously occurred with tokens like ACT and HIPPO listed on Binance.
On the same day at 10:47 PM, LUCE CTO officially posted on X stating that the cause of the price drop was determined to be price manipulation due to large whales selling off. Although the token price suffered a heavy blow, community confidence was not shaken.
Until today, LUCE has welcomed a secondary reversal.
The initial appearance and extinguishing of the holy light: when religious symbols are meme-ified
On October 29, 2024, the LUCE token was launched on the Solana chain, inspired by the two-dimensional mascot "Luce" (Italian for "light") designed by the Vatican for the Holy Year in 2025. This creative combination of religious symbols and subculture quickly attracted public attention.
The Luce mascot was created by renowned designer Simone Legno, combining the symbolic meaning of the Latin word for "light" with youthful elements: holding a pilgrim's staff, boots covered in mud, and eyes shining with hope, aimed at attracting Generation Z's attention to Catholic culture.
The developers (Dev) capitalized on the religious sentiment to create a capital narrative, launching the token with just 2 SOL (about $130) on the Pump.fun platform. The token supply was set at 1 billion and was fully circulating. The next day, LUCE's market value skyrocketed to $53 million within 12 hours, with trading volume exceeding $116 million. On-chain data shows that Dev sold 67.06 million LUCE for 2.73 SOL, making a profit of 0.73 SOL (about $130), but by this time, the market value of the token had already exceeded $2 million, revealing signs of early control.
For a period afterward, LUCE quickly became a dual symbol of "religion + wealth." In Telegram groups, the slogan "faith equals wealth" spread alongside LUCE's anime image, even giving rise to companion tokens like Santino (the puppy) and Holy Mary (the Virgin), forming a more complete narrative matrix. By November 2024, LUCE's price rose from $0.0275 to $0.07196, with a weekly increase of 65.44%, and its market value once exceeded $77 million, ranking among the top 800 cryptocurrencies by market value.
This was during a period of high market sentiment; at the same time, the high performance of the Solana chain acted as a booster—its low transaction fees (about $0.00025) and high throughput (65,000 transactions per second) allowed retail investors to trade frequently; and the Pump.fun platform simplified the token issuance process, enabling Dev to launch new coins in minutes. Data shows that in 2024, over 3,000 meme coins were born daily on the Solana chain, with 70% created through Pump.fun, and an average lifespan of only 3 days.
LUCE's relative "longevity" benefited from its unique religious narrative—the global exposure of the Vatican's Holy Year activities provided it with a continuous topic. Meanwhile, the community was exceptionally active, with members even creating a "pilgrimage roadmap" that linked token price fluctuations to the countdown to the Holy Year, claiming that "when the holy light shines in 2025, holders will receive tenfold returns," further enhancing LUCE's popularity.
Looking back, the rise and fall of memes typified by LUCE reflect the profit-seeking driven by narratives, the double-edged effect of community consensus, and the facilitation of infrastructure.
Fast forward to today, the news of the Pope's death quickly spawned a new batch of meme coins. In addition to the namesake coin, there are also new coins mocking U.S. Vice President JD Vance as "Pope Killer," capturing heat and liquidity (Note: Vance met with the Pope yesterday and wished him good health on X).
It is lamentable that meme is still a meme, without boundaries, capitalizing on everything and consuming all attention.
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