Following the U.S. bombings in Iran over the weekend, cryptocurrency traders boosted some war-related memecoins.

Cryptocurrency traders have been betting on war-themed memecoins while the United States bombed Iran over the weekend and tensions in the Middle East seem to be reaching a boiling point.

The biggest winner among memecoins — if it can be called that — was BunkerCoin, a six-month-old token from Pump.fun that surged 1,964% from Saturday to Sunday, reaching a market capitalization of $5.14 million. Since then, it has dropped 78%, arriving at $1.13 million.

BunkerCoin, originally called Project Malachite, claims to own a 750,000 square-foot private bunker in Germany. Currently, according to the project's roadmap, the team is renovating the bunker’s electrical system, blast doors, and launching marketing events. Token holders can also register to visit the bunker.

Other war tokens that surged over the weekend include Werld Wur Thwee, which hit a market capitalization of $1.54 million immediately after launch, before plummeting 89%, down to just $167,000.

Sticks and Stones, with the ticker SAS, was also launched and rose to a market capitalization of $1.56 million on Monday, while Make Iran Great Again, inspired by a social media post from President Trump, jumped to $832,530.

Riding the hype

The trend of memecoin trenches is just the latest of traders betting on public attention — which, in this case, is focused on the trenches themselves.

“They just want to make money,” said Cecilia Dahlberg, CMO of the on-chain research firm Bubblemaps, to Decrypt. “Anything that is in the news/hot/relevant WILL be a memecoin. Often, it is not related to personal interests; they see many headlines and look for a corresponding memecoin.”

Pump.fun, the largest token launch platform on Solana and where most of this degeneracy occurs, is responsible for creating nearly 11.5 million memecoins in its one and a half years of existence. In the last 24 hours alone, according to Dune data, 22,019 tokens were launched.

On the innocent side of the scale, traders betting on attention can be seen with the resounding success of the memecoin Labubu, which hit a market capitalization of $72 million while the toy's virality was at its peak. In reality, 0xToolman, a pseudonymous on-chain detective from Bubblemaps, added that traders were not genuinely interested in Labubu toys.

Yet, on the darker side, traders bet on memecoins that mock or celebrate the death of celebrities and politicians. For example, when Joe Biden announced his prostate cancer diagnosis, a Solana memecoin called It’s Joever skyrocketed.

“Crypto, being generally a free market, brings out the best and worst in people,” said Loopify, the pseudonymous founder of the charity CryptoGaza. “The attraction is simpler than people make it seem. People want money, and some care less about crossing the boundaries of life, whether social or moral.”

At its worst, this was seen when hordes of Ye fans, formerly known as Kanye West, began buying tokens they believed were related to the rapper in March.

These communities have become a fertile ground for anti-Semitism and Nazi ideologies. Some traders told Decrypt that it was all just a joke, but experts contested, stating it was the first step toward radicalization.

Still, Swasticoin reached a market capitalization of $180.45 million and Yeezy Coin $33.18 million. Both tokens are now below a market capitalization of $2.5 million.

This was just one of many memecoin projects that crossed what many perceive as a moral line. Other viral tokens mocked racial stereotypes, literally claiming that Hitler did nothing wrong, and much more.

However, in the case of the World War III memecoins, Victor Teixeira, head of the investment firm Contango Digital Assets, believes this is emblematic of a generation that refuses to learn.

Financial nihilism

“Personally, I think the narrative that ‘WW3 is happening’ is a version of educational nihilism, where no one really wants to take the time to fully understand the issues,” he said. “And this is being reflected now in investment decisions, where consumers are converging to the lowest common denominator in general.”

Teixeira explained how the narrative of a third world war is the easiest to sell, rather than one that is nuanced and rooted in truth. This educational nihilism fits well with the concept of financial nihilism that underpins the memecoin industry.

Financial nihilism, in short, refers to the feeling that traditional financial systems no longer serve new generations. The best example of this is the real estate market, which has become too expensive for first-time buyers, especially as wages are not increasing at a similar pace. Moreover, many young people felt the impact of the 2008 recession at the hands of financial institutions in the midst of their childhoods, meaning they no longer trust these institutions.

As a result, these generations are turning to increasingly speculative assets to try to achieve financial success. Combined with the supposed rejection of education, memecoins are thriving.

“I think [educational nihilism] is reflected in the trends of memecoins, where you can put a real product in front of them,” Teixeira added, “and a really silly memecoin that makes someone laugh, they will choose the memecoin as a rejection of the fact that someone dedicated time to building a product, even if the memecoin harms them.”

“Ultimately, memecoins have always been about capturing the cultural zeitgeist,” he concluded, and giving people a dopamine rush when they are on the timeline and can feel like they are part of something.