Source: Decrypt
Compiled by: BitpushNews
Celebrities getting involved in cryptocurrency is nothing new. As early as 2013, child star Brock Pierce co-founded Blockchain Capital, opening the precedent for celebrities to "enter the crypto space". From former US President Trump to star Lindsay Lohan, celebrities from all walks of life have flocked in, trying to make money in the cryptocurrency wave.
However, celebrity is not always a panacea. Some people use their influence to promote crypto projects, but the results are often unsatisfactory. In the past decade, the US 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 been punished for this. What's even more regrettable is that many celebrities are also deeply involved in the FTX exchange crash scandal, which almost destroyed the entire crypto industry.
If celebrities’ involvement in cryptocurrencies is still “old news”, then the “celebrity meme coins” craze that emerged in 2024 can be called “new news”. As meme coins replaced NFTs as the new favorite of speculators, a large number of celebrities followed suit, personally issuing their own meme coins, and even trying to build business models around these tokens.
In the past year alone, nearly a dozen European and American celebrities have launched their own meme coins. However, the community feedback has been mixed, with more negative effects.
Traditional investors generally believe that Bitcoin investors have a higher risk tolerance, but meme coin fanatics are the real risk-takers - just like being in the Wild West, the price of the tokens in their hands may soar or plummet in an instant.
The craze was on full display on meme coin issuance platform Pump.fun, where Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner launched her own meme coin, kicking off the celebrity meme coin craze.
There have been many "view-destroying" stories on Pump.fun. One user threatened to end the life of a small goldfish if his meme tokens were not purchased; another threatened to sit on the toilet until the market value of his tokens reached $50 million (when the market value reached $10 million, he actually shaved off one eyebrow). Some people have taken even more extreme actions, such as a young man who "committed suicide".
When Pump.fun was hot, in May 2024, Jenner teamed up with Trump, who was actively preparing for the election at the time, to issue his own token in a high-profile manner.
This move caused great controversy, and many people even suspected that Jenner's social account was stolen, or that this was an AI deep fake scam. Even the founder of Pump.fun was shocked.
“I was going crazy,” Alon (not his real name), co-founder of Pump.fun, told Decrypt. He called it one of the craziest moments in the company’s short but wonderful history: “We tweeted that she released a coin, and then we were like, ‘Did she really release a coin?’ I had no idea what was going on. It was crazy.”
It turns out that the person behind Jenner’s “farce” was crypto promoter Sahil Arora, who signed a contract with Jenner, promising to issue tokens for him and agreeing to pay a $50,000 advance and 80% of the revenue share.
However, the collaboration soon turned into a farce. Jenner accused Arora of breach of contract and publicly vented his anger on Twitter: "F...k Sahil Arora! He cheated us!"
Jenner told Decrypt in May that Sahil Arora "disappeared" after showing her several wire transfers and 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 cooperating with R&B singer Jason Derulo to issue tokens, Derulo also publicly accused Arora of being deceived. Arora responded that all this was "part of the script." Since then, Arora has issued tokens for rappers Rich the Kid and Lil Pump, and these stars have also complained about similar experiences.
Subsequently, celebrities such as rapper Cardi B, Waka Flocka Flame and Sean Kingston also issued their own tokens, but did not publicly cooperate with Arora.
Data visualization company Bubbleworks published a long article on the social platform X to "blast" Arola, saying that he earned $30 million this year by issuing meme coins on behalf of celebrities.
Nick Vaiman, co-founder and CEO of Bubblemaps, said in an interview with Decrypt: “Many tokens have obvious red flags from the beginning, such as high control, malicious manipulation, and obvious ‘leek cutting’ strategies.”
Of course, not all celebrity meme coin launches have ended in farce. Australian musician Iggy Azalea is an exception. Although her token MOTHER was questioned by Bubblemaps for being "sniped" by 20% of its supply at launch, she claimed that she was unaware of it.
Bubblemaps’ on-chain detectives pointed out that this could only happen if the token contract address was leaked to an insider in advance.
However, the tide of public opinion turned after Iggy Azalea participated in a Twitter Spaces event, demonstrated her understanding of encryption, and publicly criticized Arora.
“Once we found out she really knew what she was doing, we were very optimistic about her,” said Alon, the founder of Pump.fun. “It was a great feeling.”
A few months later, more and more celebrities launched tokens that then became shitcoins. Jenner even launched 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 writing, Jenner’s meme coin on Solana is valued at just $357,000, while her Ethereum token is valued at just $139,000, well below their previous peaks of $42 million and $7.5 million, respectively.
Jason Derulo’s JASON token has fallen 97.8% from its peak, with a market value of $783,000;
Waka Flocka Flame's FLOCKA token fell by 99%, with a market value of only $238,000; the bundled token WAP plummeted by 99.65%, with a market value of less than $138,000.
Iggy Azalea told Decrypt: “Most celebrities who get involved in this have the worst intentions. I don’t think any of them really want to do crypto tokens. They just want to cash out quickly and walk away.”
As these tokens collapsed and celebrities left in droves, the first lawsuits followed. In November 2024, a group of investors filed a class-action lawsuit against Jenner and her agents, accusing her of misrepresenting her Solana meme coin and failing to register it as a security.
Jenner's team did not respond to Decrypt's request for comment.
Some cryptocurrency legal experts say more of these civil lawsuits are likely in the future. "We will see an uptick in lawsuits involving celebrity endorsements of meme coins," cyberlaw attorney Andrew Rossow told Decrypt. "Celebrities will increasingly be held accountable for their promotional activities and may even face broader legal liability for being the 'sellers' of these digital assets."
“Jenner’s lawsuit serves as a clear warning to any celebrity who thinks they can leverage their fame to over-promise and over-deliver on meme tokens just to make a quick buck,” said digital asset attorney Carlo D’Angelo.
Some crypto advocates believe that celebrity meme coins can help attract young people to crypto. For example, Arora once told Decrypt that he started the celebrity meme coin craze to make cryptocurrency more mainstream than ever before.
Nick Vaiman, founder of Bubblemaps, summed it up: “For a narrative to succeed, it needs universality, hope, and role models. It needs to be able to appeal to the masses and create real success stories to maintain hope and inspire others. However, celebrity crypto projects have failed to establish such a virtuous cycle and instead have become a predatory mechanism that extracts liquidity from retail investors and leaves everyone penniless.”
