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'Boden' Memecoin Surges After Trump Quips About It

"I don't like that investment," former U.S. President Donald Trump said of a token mocking his rival, Joe Biden. Trump also said he's open to cryptocurrency donations.

Updated May 9, 2024, 6:05 p.m. Published May 9, 2024, 2:05 a.m.
16:9CROP Donald Trump at an NFT event at Mar-a-Lago on May 8, 2024. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)
16:9CROP Donald Trump at an NFT event at Mar-a-Lago on May 8, 2024. (Danny Nelson/CoinDesk)

The old saying "any publicity is good publicity" appears to hold true for memecoins. Even the flimsiest kind of publicity.

Jeo Boden (BODEN), a joke crypto token referring to a misspelling of U.S. President Joe Biden's name, surged as much as 25% Wednesday after his Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump, responded to a fan's question about it.

The real estate mogul, reality TV star and populist firebrand was hosting the Trump Cards NFT Gala for holders of the digital collectibles that bear his name and likeness. A few hundred people were in attendance at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

"I don't like that investment," Trump said at an impromptu audience Q&A after an attendee described BODEN to him and said it had a $240 million market capitalization.

After peaking at $0.42, BODEN fluctuated and at press time was trading at $0.40, still up about 15% from when Trump made his comment (such as it was).

Trump crypto donations?

Trump's presidential campaign is not currently accepting donations in cryptocurrency, but he said at the impromptu gathering he intends to.

When asked, "Can we donate using crypto?" the almost-certain GOP nominee responded, "If you can't, I'll make sure you can."

Meanwhile, on Polymarket, the crypto-based prediction market platform, trading remained flat Wednesday in the contract "Will Trump mention $boden before July?"

The contract defines a "mention" as either "a verbal usage of the word 'boden' specifically in reference to the cryptocurrency" or "any written usage of the word 'boden' published through Trump's social media or other official communication channels."

His quip didn't fit the bill, and "yes" shares in the contract, which will pay out $1 if he utters the word "Boden" by July 1, were little changed at $0.05 – meaning traders are giving 5% odds that he will say the word.

CORRECTION (May 9, 2024, 02:38 UTC): Corrects fourth paragraph to say that Trump was doing a Q&A with the audience, not a press conference.

Danny Nelson contributed reporting.


Marc Hochstein

<p>As Deputy Editor-in-Chief for Features, Opinion, Ethics and Standards, Marc oversees CoinDesk's long-form content, sets <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/ethics/">editorial policies</a> and acts as the ombudsman for our industry-leading newsroom. He is also spearheading our nascent coverage of prediction markets and helps compile The Node, our daily email newsletter rounding up the biggest stories in crypto.</p><br><P>From November 2022 to June 2024 Marc was the Executive Editor of Consensus, CoinDesk's flagship annual event. He joined CoinDesk in 2017 as a managing editor and has steadily added responsibilities over the years.</p><br><P>Marc is a veteran journalist with more than 25 years' experience, including 17 years at the trade publication American Banker, the last three as editor-in-chief, where he was responsible for some of the earliest mainstream news coverage of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.</p><br><P>DISCLOSURE: Marc holds BTC above CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000; marginal amounts of ETH, SOL, XMR, ZEC, MATIC and EGIRL; an Urbit planet (~fodrex-malmev); two ENS domain names (MarcHochstein.eth and MarcusHNYC.eth); and NFTs from the Oekaki (pictured), Lil Skribblers, SSRWives, and <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/business/2021/09/20/metal-fans-snap-up-gwars-scumdog-and-slave-nfts-amid-market-frenzy/">Gwar</a> collections.</p>

picture of Marc Hochstein