The promising engineer from a wealthy Baltimore family was charged with the brazen, broad daylight murder of health insurance executive Brian Thompson.
Luigi Mangione Gains Memecoin Infamy
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Alleged Killer Becomes Memecoin Darling
Valedictorian-turned-villain Luigi Mangione, who has been accused of an assassin-style execution of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson last week in New York City, has become the face of multiple memecoins on various crypto sites.
The 26-year-old Ivy League engineering graduate, who hailed from one of Baltimore, Maryland’s wealthiest families, shocked the nation when he was cornered by police in a McDonald’s and later charged with Thompson’s murder.
In an unlikely turn of events, the accused murderer suddenly went from feared cold-blooded killer to revered savior of the people. And now, the memecoin community has joined in the adulation and memorialized Mangione in multiple tokens, including “Luigi” on pump.fun, which had a market capitalization of $8.9 million at the time of reporting, although that number was nearly $77 million a day after it first launched on Monday.
“Boycott McDonalds,” reads one of the comments on the site, “Absolute Chad” says another.
Several other memecoins honoring the disgraced engineer have also been minted, notably DDD, an acronym for “deny, defend, depose,” words found on shell casings at Thompson’s murder site. The phrase is similar to “delay, deny, defend,” which apparently is a tactic used by insurance companies to delay or deny payouts.
Memecoin DDD was one of the first tokens created in support of Mangione but hasn’t fared well. Its market capitalization was only $252,000 at the time of reporting.
Crypto degens aren’t the only ones cheering for the alleged killer. Former Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz gave perhaps the most unabashed praise for Mangione thus far during an interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“I do believe in the sanctity of life and I think that’s why I felt – along with so many other Americans – joy,” Lorenz said, referring to Thompson’s death. “Certainly not empathy.”
Luigi was trading at $0.009 at the time of reporting, down roughly 42% over the past twenty-four hours, according to data from pump.fun.
