Polymarket Capture

As the 'Conclave' (Papal Election Secret Meeting) to elect the next pope is expected to be held as early as next month, meme coins themed around papal candidates are attracting attention.

As the 'Conclave' (Papal Election Secret Meeting) to elect the next pope is expected to be held as early as next month, meme coins themed around papal candidates are attracting attention.

On the 24th (local time), Bloomberg News reported through a newsletter that "cryptocurrency traders are betting on who will be the next pope using meme coins" ahead of the conclave. Meme coins are speculative cryptocurrencies with no intrinsic utility. They are low-priced and have low liquidity, making them highly volatile and requiring investor caution.

The meme coin themed around Cardinal Pietro Parolin of Italy, considered a candidate for the next pope, jumped over 2000% in price just minutes after the announcement of Pope Francis' death on the 21st. Meme coins themed around other cardinals in the running for the next pope, such as Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines and Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson of Ghana, showed similar movements.

Trading coins over the election of the next pope before Pope Francis' funeral is subject to criticism but is not new.

Betting is also underway on the election of the pope on the betting site Polymarket, which accurately predicted the results of the US presidential election last year. With $6.61 million (about 9.5 billion won) bet on 'who will be the next pope', Cardinal Parolin (29%), Cardinal Tagle (23.1%), Archbishop Matteo Maria Zuppi of Bologna, Italy (12.2%), and Cardinal Turkson (8.1%) are in order.