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Cryptocurrency enthusiasts spend millions of dollars trading “meme coins” on the topic surrounding the alleged fatal shooting of Luigi Mangione UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York last week.
Many coins listed on crypto sites like pump.fun have supporting names, including “Free Luigi Mangione” and “Justice for Luigi Mangione”.
One such coin, simply called Luigi, launched on Monday, the same day as Mangione charged with the murder in New York. It briefly achieved a market capitalization of more than $76 million.
“When someone outside the crypto bubble … comes across headlines like this, they see it as absolute madness,” Alex Beene, financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin said Newsweek phenomenon.
“After all, who would invest in a digital currency inspired by the alleged killer of a major company CEO? However, this currency is the latest in a series of coin offerings designed to capture some monetary value in online stories and moments that go viral and generate a financial component of enthusiasm around “, he added.
The shooting sparked a flurry of online conversation, often with surprising support for the suspect.
Amazon had to more than once knock over the wine glassessweatshirts and other goods that support the archer.
As The Independent as he reported, the broader conversation on social media was often surprisingly supportive after the shooting, revealing a deep dissatisfaction across the country with the current health care system.
“Currently, over 1,000 people a day go bankrupt, solely because of personal health bills. Anyone who can make millions of dollars overseeing a system like this and sleep well at night does not deserve my sympathy,” Beau Forte, a former Green Party congressional candidate in New Jersey who ran on a platform calling for universal health care, said The Independent.
Forte ran for office because his father couldn’t get care through his health insurance, and was one of those who criticized Thompson after his death.
“How appropriate is it for you to ask me if I feel bad for the person in charge of the biggest company that allows this? I apologize if that seems harsh to you, but I stand by it,” he added.