In the early hours of April 21, 2025, the Solana-based memecoin LUCE (Official Mascot of the Holy Year) experienced a surge of over 200%. The token’s price climbed from approximately $0.009 to a peak of $0.028 within 24 hours.
LUCE’s Initial Popularity
LUCE was inspired by the Vatican’s official mascot for Jubilee 2025, a chibi-style anime character named “Luce.” It was designed by Simone Legno of Tokidoki and introduced to symbolize hope and engage younger audiences through pop culture. Following its unveiling, LUCE quickly gained traction online, with widespread sharing of art and memes.
Like several memecoins that leverage internet culture, the LUCE token launched on the Solana blockchain via the Pump.fun platform. It saw an immediate surge in market capitalization, reaching nearly $53 million within six hours of its debut. However, the token’s value later declined significantly, dropping by over 95% from its November 2024 all-time high of $0.327.
The 200% Price Rally
Following the Vatican’s announcement of Pope Francis’ death, which the media outlet BBC reported, the LUCE token skyrocketed by 200% within 2 hours. It’s not surprising, as memecoins often serve as vessels for collective sentiment. The token’s rapid buy orders reveal traders’ feelings toward the pope’s death.
However, tribute buying often reverses swiftly, as is seen in the case of LUCE. At the time of writing, the token has decreased by 39% and is currently trading at $0.017. Notably, as several organizations mark Easter, tokens with religious narratives, such as LUCE, often experience periodic spikes tied to faith events.
Meanwhile, on-chain data revealed that a trader spent approximately $83,000 (621.72 SOL) to acquire 9.3 million LUCE, which plummeted by 75% a few days ago. After the recent price surge, the position was up by over 150% in unrealized profit.
Solana Memecoin Activity Grows
Solana’s memecoin ecosystem has seen explosive growth, mainly driven by the rise of Pump.fun’s token launch platform and DEX, PumpSwap. Collectively, the duo generated millions of fair-launch tokens and processed record-breaking volumes and fees in the first quarter of 2025. It currently accounts for over 60% of daily token creation volume on Solana.
In response, Raydium launched LaunchLab on April 16, 2025, as a tool for creating memecoins. The platform leverages automated market maker (AMM) liquidity pools, customizable bonding curves, and fee-sharing incentives. Today, it has generated over 3,700 tokens, with 42 successfully migrated to external trading.
