“Luigi Coin” has shot up 18% in value to 0.0032 after US prosecutors officially told a court that they plan to seek the death penalty for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson.
Luigi Mangione coin also surged 8% by market cap to $3 million and saw over $3 million in trading volume within 24 hours.
This surreal surge comes as the market’s appetite for risky assets makes a comeback thanks to the recent inauguration of Paul Atkins as SEC chairman. At the same time, Bitcoin has gone back to $90k levels, and Ethereum is leading other altcoins to a bull rally as it approaches the $2k level.
Memecoins are back in the spotlight
Memecoins have joined the rest of the crypto market in its bullish mood. Among all, the Official Trump memecoin has gone up the most, rising 9% in the last 24 hours after US President Donald Trump announced a special dinner for people who own the memecoin.
In addition, DOGE, the OG crypto memecoin, has gone up by a good 4%, while SHIB, the coin that is most similar to DOGE, has gone up by 5% in the last 24 hours. The third biggest meme coin, PEPE, has also gone up 4% today because of the optimistic market sentiment.
Other well-known memecoins, like BONK, FLOKI, and WIF, have also seen a surge, rising by 9%, 12%, and 18%, respectively. However, it is a break for Fartcoin, as it went up over 77% in the last month while most memecoins were going down against the trend.
On-chain data show that the total market value of meme coins has grown by 6.18% today, reaching $56.06 billion. In the last 24 hours, $8.83 billion worth of meme coins have been traded.
Public reaction to Luigi Mangione’s death penalty
Luigi Coin regained a lot of attention all over again because of the new developments in the Luigi Mangione case. The 26-year-old is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and is charged with killing Brian Thompson in Manhattan before dawn last year.
Thompson was shot and killed as he walked to a Hilton hotel for the annual investor meeting for his company. Police say it was a planned attack.
Five days after the crime, Mangione was caught at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, which is about 300 miles away. Police found him with fake IDs, a ghost gun with a silencer, and a three-page statement that he had written by hand.
Netizens are still angry with Mangione, but not all fully agree with the death penalty. One person said, “I am against the death penalty since it is an easy way out. I really hope we work something out with El Salvador for violent criminals. That would hopefully put the fear in those who consider committing a violent crime. No death penalty and you are going south.”
This comment is tied to what President Donald Trump said that he wants to send violent US citizens to jail in El Salvador. He told Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, that he would “have to build five more places” to hold the possible newcomers.
Another person said, “But not the school shooters…right…the legal system better keep the same energy for that FSU school shooter today who happens to also be the sheriff’s son!” This one is tied to Phoenix Ikner, a student at FSU and the son of a deputy sheriff in Leon County. He is accused of shooting the person.
It seems like netizens are scared that the death penalty will begin a trend of the same in the coming years. However, other people think that what Mangione did was unfair, and he deserves the death penalty.
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