Virginias

Mark Moran may be fresh to politics, but the former reality TV contestant and Wall Street banker is confident that his path to Washington runs through Solana’s trenches.

That’s because the 34-year-old, who is challenging incumbent Sen. Mark Warner in Virginia’s Democratic primary, recently embraced a meme coin as a way to elevate his campaign.

Moran described the endeavor to Decrypt as an attempt to innovate and appeal to crypto-native voters. But he acknowledged that his promotion of the token on social media accounts and his campaign website invites scrutiny from regulators—and potentially his competitors.

“When you think about a political campaign, that is attention and community,” he said. “Once I saw that it was legit, I thought, ‘Okay, well, any attention is good attention.’”

Since backing the token, Moran has removed its contract address from his X bio, billing himself now as a “Revolutionary Virginian Running for U.S. Senate.” As of Saturday, he had received nearly $24,000 in proceeds from the token’s debut, according to a platform for creating meme coins called Bags.

Moran said he had no involvement in the token’s creation weeks ago by a pseudonymous individual named “Atone.” But after learning about the project that set aside 100% of its royalties for him, he came to appreciate the concept behind the “Mark Moran Fund.”

“I realized there’s a great opportunity to call attention to the campaign finance space,” he said. “The money is the issue in the system. A politician has to raise all this money, but then it makes them liable to become controlled by their donor class.”

Like most digital assets that derive their value almost entirely from hype, the meme coin’s value initially popped but quickly faded. At its peak, the token was valued around $32,000.

That was a blip compared to the $14.5 billion peak market cap that President Donald Trump’s meme coin surged to nearly 13 months ago. Although some were bullish amid the token’s debut, many industry supporters held their breath then, fearing it would damage the industry’s credibility or sabotage efforts to pass favorable legislation.

Predicting success

Although politicians have raised donations in crypto, including Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary (and one-time presidential candidate) Robert F. Kennedy Jr, Moran said he doesn’t plan to use the meme coin for that purpose. 

Nor will the funds go toward a pro-crypto super PAC like Fairshake, which said on Thursday that it would target Rep. Al Green (D-TX), a crypto critic, using a portion of its $193 million war chest. 

Moran said he’s using his royalties to buy the meme coin and amass a “treasury.” The Mark Moran Fund generates royalties from a perpetual 1% trading fee, which creators can designate to social media accounts for owners to later claim.

At first, Moran said he used the token to reward “clippers” who extract highlights from long-form content to repurpose for platforms like TikTok. The practice had the potential to boost Moran’s presence online, but he said the people that did the work dumped the token instantly.

“The economics perspective of this has been fascinating,” he said. “I view this as being able to create attention nationally through this ecosystem in a transparent way.”

Trump’s meme coin may go down as one of the crypto industry’s most controversial moments, with the token recently changing hands 96% below its peak price a year ago. Days after its debut, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a noted crypto skeptic, began demanding an investigation.

A framework for stablecoins still passed into law last year. Despite earlier progress, however, a crypto market structure bill has stalled in the Senate, which has the potential to establish federal rules that accelerate the adoption of digital assets.

Warner, who has held his Virginia seat since 2009, has emerged as a key pro-crypto Democrat in negotiating the market structure bill’s finer points for months. Still, he conveyed to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a recent hearing that the bill’s limbo felt like “crypto hell.”

Decrypt has reached out to Warner’s office for comment.

Campaign finance experts and lawmakers have raised significant concerns that meme coins, particularly when linked to political figures, can violate Federal Election Commission regulations regarding contribution limits, transparency, and foreign donor restrictions.

“To the extent that the value is uncertain, or that it can be used in a way to disguise who the donor is, or that it can be used to as a way of foreign money coming in, those will create legal problems,” Richard Briffault, a Columbia Law School professor, told Decrypt.

A year ago, Rep. Sam Liccardo (D-CA) introduced the MEME Act, a bill prohibiting federal public officials from “engaging in or benefiting from the issuance, sponsorship, or promotion” of digital assets. The ban extends 180 days prior to and after officials’ window of service.

Trump wasn’t the first politician to become associated with a meme coin. And following former New York City Eric Adams’ promotion and defense of NYC Token, Moran likely won’t be the last.

One month after Trump’s White House win, Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) disclosed purchasing up to $30,000 of a meme coin depicting a dog in a ski mask. At the time, he told Decrypt that Washington and Wall Street had stigmatized emerging technology for too long.

Still, in trying to leverage his social media savvy for political gain, Moran recognized that he’s capable of making the occasional mistake. That included a $125 prediction on himself winning his race in June using Kalshi’s platform, which he shared on X, and later deleted.

Kalshi prohibits individuals from wagering on themselves as part of its market integrity rules, classifying such actions as a form of market manipulation. A spokesperson told Decrypt the firm can’t comment on “ongoing investigations.”

“I was curious if this market worked, and then I thought, ‘Oh, free advertising,’” Moran said. “Since then, I’ve spoken with Kalshi and explained to them what happened.”