A Thursday night tweet of the Chill Man meme by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele pumped the value of a Solana memecoin by 65% in 90 minutes.
Whereas Bitcoiners interpreted the tweet as a response to bitcoin’s rally above $96,000, memecoin merchants interpreted the tweet actually.
Though dozens of Chill Man-named memecoins exist, the biggest and most liquid model exists on Solana. Beginning at a market capitalization of $300 million as of 9:09pm in El Salvador when Bukele tweeted, crypto merchants instantly ran up the coin to a $500 million market cap.
Bukele’s tweet noticed crypto merchants pump the coin to a $500 million market cap in 90 minutes.
As of publication time, the tweet has earned over 1.4 million views and the related memecoin has generated over $350 million in 24-hour quantity.
Bukele claims that El Salvador grew to become a sovereign bitcoin investor on September 6, 2021. After years of acquisitions, the nation now claims to own 5,940 bitcoin price over $550 million. With bitcoin at all-time highs, Salvadoran purchases have accreted tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} to the nation’s treasury.
Traditionally, Bukele has solely spoken publicly about bitcoin and tether, suggesting that his pumping of this small memecoin might need been inadvertent.
Phillip Banks created the Simply A Chill Man meme in October 2023 and it unfold virally on social media, particularly TikTok the place it enjoys a phrasal template. Chill Man’s nonchalant smirk, informal apparel, and serenity painting an detached equanimity amid a wide range of in any other case nerve-racking conditions.
Earlier right this moment, the meme’s creator Phillip Banks threatened to concern takedown notices for property or purposes that used the character.
He clarified, “Not like brand accounts using him as a trend, that’s kinda something I don’t really care about (I do just ask for credit. Or Xboxes), mainly unauthorized merchandise and shitcoins.”
