Source: Decrypt; Compiled by: BitpushNews

Celebrity involvement in cryptocurrency is nothing new. As early as 2013, child star Brock Pierce co-founded Blockchain Capital, marking the first time for celebrities to enter the crypto field. Celebrities from all walks of life, from former U.S. President Donald Trump to celebrity Lindsay Lohan, are rushing in to try to cash in on the cryptocurrency wave.

However, celebrity effect is not always a panacea. Some people use their influence to advocate for crypto projects, but the results are often unsatisfactory. In the past decade, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against more than a dozen celebrities for illegally promoting cryptocurrencies, and Kim Kardashian and boxing champion Mayweather have all been punished for this. What is even more embarrassing is that many celebrities are also involved in the collapse scandal of the FTX exchange. This storm almost destroyed the entire encryption industry.

If celebrity participation in cryptocurrency is still a "cliché", then the "celebrity meme (meme) coin" craze that will arise in 2024 can be called a "new trick" ". As meme coins have replaced NFTs as the new favorite of speculators, a large number of celebrities have followed suit, personally issued their own meme coins, and even tried to build business models around these tokens.

In the past year alone, nearly a dozen big-name European and American celebrities have launched their own meme coins. Community feedback has been mixed, with more negative impacts.

Traditional investors often assume that Bitcoin investors have a high risk tolerance, but meme coin enthusiasts are the real risk-takers—like It’s the Wild West, and the price of the tokens you hold can skyrocket or plummet in an instant.

On the meme currency issuance platform Pump.fun, this madness is most vividly displayed. Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner launched her own meme coin on the platform, kicking off the celebrity meme coin craze.

There have been many "ruining three views" stories on Pump.fun. There was a user who threatenedOne threatened to end the life of a little goldfish if his meme coin wasn't bought; another threatened to sit on the toilet until his coin's market cap reached $50 million (when the market cap hit $10 million, He actually shaved off one of his eyebrows). Some people have taken more extreme actions, such as a young man who committed suicide.

When Pump.fun was hot, in May 2024, Jenner joined hands with Trump, who was actively preparing for the election at the time, and issued his own token with a high profile.

This move caused huge controversy, and many people even suspected that Jenner's social account was stolen, or that this was an AI deep forgery scam. Even the founder of Pump.fun was surprised.

Alon (pseudonym), co-founder of Pump.fun, said in an interview with Decrypt: "I was almost stupid." He called this a short and wonderful period for the company One of the craziest moments in history: “We tweeted that she was sending coins, and then we were like, ‘Did she actually send coins?’ I had no idea what was going on, it was crazy. ”

It turns out that the driving force behind Jenner’s “farce” is crypto promoter Sahil Arora. He signed a contract with Jenner, promised to issue tokens for it, and agreed to pay an advance payment of US$50,000 and an 80% revenue share.

However, the collaboration quickly turned into a farce. Jenner accused Arora of breach of contract and publicly cursed on Twitter: "F...kSahilArora! He lied to us!"

Jenner accepted Decrypt in May During the interview, it was stated that Sahil Arora "disappeared" after showing several wire transfer records and still owed her "a large sum of money." Arora did not respond to Decrypt's request for comment at the time.

But this is just the beginning.

After collaborating with R&B singer Jason Derulo to issue tokens, Derulo also publicly accused himself of being deceived by Arora. Arora responded that it was all "part of the script". Since then, Arora has worked for rappers Rich the Kid and Lil Pump issued tokens, and as a result, these celebrities also complained about similar experiences.

Subsequently, stars such as rapper Cardi B, Waka Flocka Flame and Sean Kingston also issued their own tokens, but did not publicly cooperate with Arora.

Bubbleworks, a data visualization company, posted a long article on social platform Lola, said he made $30 million this year by issuing meme coins for celebrity agents.

Bubblemaps co-founder and CEO Nick Vaiman said in an interview with Decrypt: "Many tokens have obvious red flags from the beginning, such as a high degree of market control and malicious intent. Manipulation and obvious 'cutting leek' tactics"

Of course, not all celebrity memes. The issuance of coins has ended in farce. Australian musician Iggy Azalea is an exception. Although her token MOTHER was questioned by Bubblemaps for being “sniped” by 20% of the supply upon release, she claimed she had no knowledge of this.

Bubblemaps’ on-chain detectives pointed out that this could only happen if the token contract address was leaked to insiders in advance.

However, the direction of public opinion changed after Iggy Azalea participated in a Twitter Spaces event, demonstrated her understanding of encryption, and publicly criticized Arora.

Alon, founder of Pump.fun, said: "When we found out that she really knew her stuff, we were very optimistic about her. It felt great."< /p>

A few months later, more and more celebrities issued tokens, which then became junk coins. Jenner even issued an Ethereum token, causing the price of her original Solana token to plummet.

So, what is the current status of these celebrity meme coins?

As of this writing, Jenner’s meme coin on Solana has a market cap of just $357,000, while her Ethereum token has a market cap of just $139,000, well below the previous $42 million and $7.5 million respectively.

Jason Derulo’s JASON token fell 97.8% from its peak, with its market value shrinking to $783,000;

Waka Flocka Flame’s FLOCKA The token fell by 99%, with a market value of only US$238,000; the bundled token WAP plummeted by 99.65%, with a market value of less than US$138,000.

Iggy Azalea said in an interview with Decrypt: "Most celebrities are involved in this with the worst intentions. I don't think any of them really want to do crypto tokens, they just want to cash out of it quickly and walk away. ”

As these tokens collapsed and celebrities left, the first lawsuits followed. In November 2024, a group of investors filed a lawsuit against Jenner and her agent filed a class action lawsuit accusing her of misrepresenting her Solana meme coin and failing to register it as a security.

Jenner's team did not. Responding to Decrypt's request for comment.

Some cryptocurrency legal experts say there may be more such civil lawsuits in the future. "We will see an uptick in lawsuits involving celebrity endorsements of meme coins," cyber law attorney Andrew Russo told Decrypt "Celebrities will increasingly be held accountable for their promotional activities and may even face broader legal liability as 'sellers' of these digital assets," Shi said. ”

Digital asset lawyer Carlo D’Angelo said: “Jenner’s lawsuit challenges anyone who thinks they can use their fame to over-promise and deliver meme coins, just for the sake of It’s a clear warning to celebrities who want to make quick money. ”

Some crypto advocates believe that celebrity meme coins can help attract young people to crypto. For example, Arora told Decrypt that he started celebrity memes The coin boom is about making cryptocurrencies more mainstream than ever

Bubblemaps founder Nick Vaiman concludes.Dow: “For a narrative to be successful, it needs universality, hope, and role models. It needs to be able to appeal to the masses and create real success stories that sustain hope and inspire others. However, celebrity crypto projects fail to establish such a virtuous cycle , instead it became a predatory mechanism, squeezing liquidity from retail investors and causing everyone to lose everything.”