Unofficial Catholic Meme Coin LUCE Surges as Bettors Wager On Next Pope

3 hours ago 5

In brief

LUCE token price up 45% with 24-hour volume jumping to $60 million.
Cardinal Parolin leads papal succession odds at 37%, followed by Cardinal Tagle at 27%.
Pope Francis was a vocal critic of AI, saying it represents the "highest-stakes gamble of our future.”

The death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday sparked a flurry of activity in crypto markets and prediction platforms, as traders and bettors sought to profit on the news.

LUCE, a Solana-based meme coin named after the cartoon mascot for the Vatican's upcoming Holy Year 2025, has jumped about 45% on the day, according to CoinGecko data.

The token is trading at $0.013 and has seen its daily trading volume surge to $60.27 million from $5 million the day before news of the pontiff's demise hit headlines worldwide.

Despite a warning that it is unaffiliated and unofficial, LUCE has attracted approximately 44,800 holders. It still remains down by about 95% from its November peak of $0.30.

The chart shows a sharp decline of 74% around April 19, before a meeting with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, 20 hours before news of the pope's death emerged.

Conclave bets

In the Roman Catholic tradition, when a pope dies or resigns, cardinals gather to elect the successor through a secret ballot, known as a papal conclave.

As a result, betting markets have launched around the prospects of papal succession. On Myriad Markets, operated by Decrypt’s parent company Dastan, punters have placed Italy's Cardinal Pietro Parolin in the lead with a 37% probability.

This is followed by the Philippines' Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle at 27%, with more betting on unnamed others at 34%.

The conclave will be convened within the next three weeks to choose the next leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church.

Born in Argentina, Jorge Mario Bergoglio took the papal name Francis in 2013 when he was elected, becoming the first non-European pope in about 1,300 years.

The young Bergoglio worked as a bouncer at a nightclub in Buenos Aires. At age 36, he led Argentina’s Jesuit congregation. He died at 88 following a stroke and cardiovascular collapse.

Bergoglio had been a vocal critic of technological excesses during his papacy.

In late 2023, he described artificial intelligence as "the highest-stakes gamble of our future" and urged that it be developed to "serve humanity's best potential."

Last year, Bergoglio denounced the use of AI in war, saying: "No machine should ever choose to take the life of a human being."

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair