With celebrities recently launching their own memecoin projects, these ventures have set the latest impressive crypto trend. However, as with every bull cycle, many celebrity-linked projects are accused of scamming amateur investors, highlighting the crypto market‘s long-standing issue with influencers. This is clearly evident from the recent decline in memecoin volumes and sharp price drops.
Celebrity Memecoin Craze
According to data shared by the blockchain data analysis platform CryptoQuant, memecoin dominance in the altcoin market has sharply declined since mid-May and continued to drop in June.
Solana-based Zeta Markets co-founder Tristan Frizza commented that celebrities get involved in token projects because they see them as a low-effort way to potentially earn a large payout and shared the following statements:
“Individual users who want to speculate on cryptocurrency need to be aware that cryptocurrency is volatile, and memecoin projects are extremely volatile and most fail; in other words, they tend to trend towards zero. The involvement of any celebrity or personality supporting or talking about a memecoin project does not change this fact.”
What’s Happening in the Memecoin Space?
The celebrity memecoin craze began with American media personality Caitlyn Jenner’s (JENNER) memecoin project on May 28. Despite a rocky start that many initially thought was part of a fake X account hack, the token reached a market value of $40 million within 24 hours of its launch. Rapper Iggy Azalea launched the Mother Iggy (MOTHER) memecoin project on the Solana network following JENNER’s initial success. The token’s value increased within weeks but dropped significantly last week due to ongoing market turmoil.
Nigerian musician Davido also joined this trend by launching the Timeless Davido (DAVIDO) token. However, some questioned the project’s validity, claiming it involved pre-mining and token dumping. American Rapper Rich the Kid’s Rich (RCH) token also attracted memecoin investors. However, the token has since lost more than 90% of its value, dropping to a market value of $61,000.
Memecoin projects associated with boxing legend Floyd Mayweather (FLOYD) and American rappers Moneybagg Yo (SPEAK) and Trippie Red (BANDO) have also seen a drop of over 90% since their launch.
