El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele Pumps Solana Memecoin by 65% in 90 Minutes With a Single Tweet

A Thursday evening tweet of the Chill Guy meme by El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele pumped the price of a Solana memecoin by 65% in 90 minutes.

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele tweeted a Chill Guy meme on Thursday evening, which caused the price of a Solana memecoin to skyrocket by 65% in just 90 minutes.

While Bitcoiners may have interpreted the tweet as a response to bitcoin’s rally above $96,000, memecoin traders appeared to have taken the tweet quite literally.

Out of the numerous Chill Guy-named memecoins in existence, the largest and most liquid version is built on Solana. Commencing at a market capitalization of $300 million at 9:09pm local time in El Salvador when Bukele tweeted, crypto traders swiftly drove the coin up to a market valuation of $500 million.

At the time of writing, the tweet has garnered over 1.4 million views, and the memecoin in question has generated more than $350 million in 24-hour trading volume.

Bukele has maintained that El Salvador became a sovereign bitcoin investor on September 6, 2021. Following a period of accumulation, the country now claims to hold 5,940 bitcoin valued at over $550 million. As bitcoin continues to reach all-time highs, El Salvador’s purchases have added hundreds of millions of dollars to its treasury.

In the past, Bukele has only publicly addressed bitcoin and tether, suggesting that his promotion of this small memecoin may have been unintentional.

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See more: Solana pre-sale meme coin founders abandon their crashing projects

The Just A Chill Guy meme was created by Phillip Banks in October 2023, rapidly spreading virally across social media, particularly on TikTok, where it conforms to a phrasal template. Depicting Chill Guy’s signature smirk, casual attire, and air of serenity, the meme showcases his indifference amidst various stressful situations.

Earlier today, the meme’s creator, Banks, threatened to issue takedown notices for any assets or applications that utilized the character without authorization.

Speaking via X, Banks said, “Chill guy has been copyrighted. like, legally. I’ll be issuing takedowns on for-profit-related things over the next few days.”

He clarified, “Not like brand accounts using him as a trend, that’s kinda something I don’t really care about (I do just ask for credit. Or Xboxes), mainly unauthorized merchandise and shitcoins.”

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