Unofficial Cryptocurrency in the Catholic Church Raises Questions About the Next Pope
The markets are being shaken by a cryptocurrency known as LUCE. With a 60 million dollar trading volume, its price has increased by 45% in just one day. However, there is no formal association between the Vatican and this Solana-based memecoin. LUCE uses religious iconography to draw in speculators, drawing inspiration from the Holy Year 2025.
Despite the lack of strong foundations, this currency is now held in 44,800 wallets. Its current price of $0.013, which peaked at $0.30 at the end of 2023, is still considerably below that. Mimetic exuberance and extreme volatility are all signs of a crypto bubble.
But why is there so much interest in a religion that the Church does not recognise? The explanation is straightforward: a potent combination of rapid conjecture and spiritual symbolism.
Papal succession: faith valued in crypto?
The entire crypto-religious ecology is in disarray, even outside of LUCE. Decentralised betting sites like Myriad Markets are seeing record-breaking activity after Pope Francis’ death. With a 37% chance, Cardinal Parolin is in the lead, closely followed by Cardinal Tagle (27%). The odds are updated in real time, and bets are made in stablecoins rather than bitcoin.
This gamification of the Pope is both shocking and fascinating. Is it possible for a conclave to become a result of speculation? Bots arbitrage, algorithms forecast, and bettors place bets. In this new online casino, even the late Pope’s remarks about artificial intelligence being “the riskiest bet for our future” have an ironic resonance.
The Vatican says nothing, but the message is clear: crypto is everywhere, even in places where one would expect reverence and solemnity. Although LUCE is a short-lived trend, it represents a more profound change: a time when the sacred is tokenised and even important religious rites can be repurposed for profit.
LUCE isn’t your average cryptocurrency. It is a sign of a society where algorithms, faith, and money collide. As evidence that these tokens can represent much more than just a speculative asset, the Dogecoin community celebrates their recognisable memecoin. Maybe it’s time to consider this as the Vatican moves into a period of transition: What if the real light lay not in the markets but rather in our capacity to find purpose amid the digital storm?
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