The recent launch of celebrity coins on the Solana blockchain has shocked newcomer investors, as most token values have fallen by over 99%.
Famous figures, including 50 Cent, Caitlyn Jenner, Andrew Tate, Iggy Azalia and Barron Trump, supported the launch of the tokens, prompting fans and followers to invest.
Over 30 celebrity-endorsed tokens launched in June on Solana have seen prices fall by no less than 73.23%.
Only a handful still hold value
An X post by cryptocurrency analyst Slorg revealed the devastating performance of these celeb coins, noting that just a handful have barely managed to retain more than 25% of their value.
According to the analyst, even the “best performing” celeb coins “are down more than 70%, but the extent of the damage is shocking.”
“Exactly half are down over 99%, with 7 others being down more than 90%. Let me remind you this is only about a month into their lifespan.”
Liars, insiders, buyers… oh my!
From Jason Derulo’s denial of selling off his JASON tokens to Waka Flocka Flame’s FLOCKA token insider activity, the celebrity coin space is uncertain for investors.
In a written Q&A with Cointelegraph, Waka Flocka spoke about past promotions of dubious crypto projects and undisclosed paid promotions.
“My previous management would bring projects to me in early 2021 that seemed genuine, but the teams didn’t follow through on what they said they would. I do my own due diligence and homework now.”
Despite the promises of future due diligence, the plan doesn’t reimburse the unsuspecting investors who lost out on past scams and those suffering from the recent celeb coin crash.
50 Cent X account hacked to promote scam
On June 21, Curtis James Jackson III, known as 50 Cent, claimed his X account and website were hacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump (PnD) token scam.
Using Jackson’s X account, the fraudulent developers created the PnD token (GUNIT) to attract the celebrity’s 12.9 million followers into investing in it before funds were drained.
Jackson’s post on June 21 to his Instagram followers stated he had “no association with this crypto” and that Twitter promptly locked his account after being alerted to the incident.