Celebrity Tokens. The Solana network has been home to hundreds of tokens solely valued by amusing events, images, animals, and now celebrities, making it a long-running meme coin wave. Meme coins are riding a similar wave on the network as on other networks; nonetheless, the network’s low transaction costs and strong liquidity have created an ideal environment for these initiatives to flourish despite their volatility.
Meme coins have a common “meta” that forms part of their foundation. A meme currency serves as the impetus for every wave of meme coins. Some well-known ones are the Trump, the cat, and the dog (and celebrity dog) meta. Celebrities from all over the globe are joining the latest trend and releasing meme coins on the platform.
The network has seen the debut of several celebrity-themed tokens in the last several weeks. It all started with popular merchants like ZACK launching meme coins, then parodies like “jeo Boden” and “Doland tremp,” Now we have popular musicians like Davido and Iggy Azalea launching meme coins. Along with a few famous projects in this category, we talk about Celebrity Tokens, the celebrity meme coin meta, and what they could represent for the average cryptocurrency investor.
Understanding Celebrity Tokens in Crypto
Celebrity tokens reference famous personalities from sports, entertainment, politics, and social media. Celebrity tokens can be associated directly with the referenced figure or launched without their involvement. Regardless, the tokens’ branding, promotion, and price actions are connected to the celebrity and their coverage in popular media. To connect with their community, celebrity token pages usually create memes around their chosen personality that resonates with the token’s community.
An instance is the Trump meta. The former United States president is the subject of several meme coins named after him, his election slogan (MAGA), or both. The current US president has also been involved in similar projects (like Joe Boden and his meme counterpart ‘Joe Boden’). While Trump is not directly involved in TRUMP (MAGA), the project’s creators gifted him 580,000 Celebrity Tokens.
Meme coins about football superstars Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, and Jack Grealish have also been launched. Joining the list are meme coins launched with the names of musicians like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Kanye West. However, these public figures are not personally involved in these projects.
On the other hand, some celebrities have launched their meme coins. Celebrity Tokens are promoted by celebrities, who advertise them directly to their followers on social media and engage in extra promotional activities for the tokens. Unlike unofficial celebrity tokens, celebrities are involved in branding these kinds of meme coins.
Each celebrity adopts different tactics to promote their meme coins, but these are hardly different from the basic community-driven promotions for which meme coins are known. Recent meme coins directly associated with celebrities have been caught up in controversies involving a meme coin promoter, Sahil Arora.
Who Is Sahil Arora?
Sahil Arora has been linked to multiple launches of celebrity meme coins. The Instagram influencer boasts to his 1.6 million followers that he is in touch with multiple celebs. The renowned influencer is reportedly involved in multiple token launches, including one-off promotion negotiations for memecoin initiatives. The promoter of the meme coin, JENNER, has taken credit for launching the coin, which is linked to Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner.
Nevertheless, rumors have it that Sahil and the celebrities involved had some issues with the delivery of the negotiation conditions. Several famous people have cut ties with the influencer, including Caitlyn Jenner, American rapper Offset (stage name), and Iggy Azalea, who have all claimed that he failed to live up to his end of the bargain. X, the social networking platform formerly known as Twitter, allegedly banned Sahil Arora’s account after weeks of turmoil. But now we hear from reliable sources that he’s made new profiles, and judging by his recent Instagram activity, he’s still very much involved.
Vitalik Buterin’s Criticism of Celebrity Tokens
A co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, recently voiced his disapproval of celebrity tokens in a tweet on X, saying that they only exist to generate revenue. “Meme coins “frequently seem to just move up and down in price and provide nothing of value in their wake,” he writes in a different blog post about them. This “feels thrilling in month N but leaves everyone upset in month N+1.” On the other hand, he admits that meme coins are entertaining and hopes that celebrity meme coins will fund art projects or celebrities’ favorite charities.
Risks Associated With Celebrity Tokens
There are benefits to using celebrity meme coins, such as showcasing a well-known figure and the possibility of rapid profit, but there are also some drawbacks. A few examples of these dangers include;
Volatility
Because of their inherent instability, cryptocurrency prices fluctuate wildly over time. Meme coins are already vulnerable to such wild fluctuations, but they’re considerably more so because of the trading setup, liquidity, and public opinion around meme coins. This category includes Celebrity Tokens. Most memecoins are held by traders continually looking to cash in on their winnings because their value depends on community participation, and there is little to no tokenomics plan.
Rug Pulls
Both traders and meme coin makers benefit from the low barrier to entry, which is often cited as an advantage of meme coins. The creation of meme coins, as well as the management of token supply and smart contract agreements, is open to everyone. Dishonest innovators can hurt the liquidity pool because there aren’t many rules in this industry.
In the unfortunate case, if a token or liquidity pool creator links their token to a standard cryptocurrency like USDT and then withdraws all the cash after investors have bought in, making the token practically worthless and untradeable, this is called a rug pull. The originator’s ability to generate additional tokens makes this feasible even with liquidity locking and other methods. Investors have lost a lot of money since several Celebrity Tokens crashed soon after they were released.
Copyright Concerns
Most celebrity tokens function anonymously, except those closely linked to the famous figure. Some aspects of the project may violate the celebrity’s rights, such as using photos and intellectual property. Anyone harmed by a meme coin can sue the person or people responsible. In the aftermath of such occurrences, investors may see a decline in their capital due to a possible market crash.
Notable Celebrity Tokens
At this point, let’s take a look at some celebrity tokens that have been making waves in recent times;
JENNER (Caitlyn Jenner)
On May 26, 2024, Caitlyn Jenner, a famous American athlete and personality, debuted the JENNER meme coin. Meme Coin debuted on Pump.fun, a fair launch site, and later on Raydium Dex. With more trades than its companion Solana joke currency WIF, JENNER’s market worth soared to more than nearly $43 million. The extensive use of social media, especially by Caitlyn, is to blame for this. Her social media posts provide credence to the token’s claims of support and disprove rumors that her accounts were compromised to promote the token. The asset’s market cap is below $7 million as of this writing, despite Caitlyn Jenner’s continuing promotion of the initiative since then.
Data from GeckoTerminal indicates that Caitlyn Jenner launched the JENNER/ETH pair on May 29, 2024, and that she has also extended the JENNER meme coin on the Ethereum network. Reportedly, she will contribute a portion of the profits from the Ethereum meme coin to the re-election campaign of the 45th president to show her support for the 45th president, Donald Trump. You may find JENNER listed in HTX, MEXC, Gate, and the decentralized exchanges on Solana and Ethereum.
MOTHER (Iggy Azalea)
A MOTHER variation has been released for all but the rarest viral memes. As she promotes her celebrity memecoin, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea has been more engaged on social media site X than ever. Following the controversy around a previous token issued in tribute to the artist, the Mother/SOL pair was established on May 28, 2024. With the help of her “lil brothers,” Iggy Azalea started MOTHER alone, she said in reaction to posts linking the project to Sahil Arora. The Solana and cryptocurrency communities have warmly welcomed the token.
As of this writing, MOTHER’s market cap is over $100 million, thanks in large part to her ongoing social media promotion of the project and the support of other influencers and initiatives in the same sector, such as Kamino Finance, a liquidity and lending solution based in Solana, who added MOTHER to its liquidity vaults.
Another claimant to 3% of the token supply is Iggy Azalea. She promises to burn some of it at the first sign of a famous meme coin rug. The increasing level of community involvement and the participation of other prominent projects and influencers has been crucial to the project’s growth. Several centralized cryptocurrency exchanges have featured MOTHER, including HTX, MEXC, Gate, and LBank. View the current MOTHER trade pairings.
TRUMP (MAGA)
One of the most prominent meme coin metas is former US president Donald Trump. Numerous meme coins feature the presidential candidate and his campaign slogan from 2024. The 45th president is the subject of some comedic parodies, but TRUMP (MAGA) isn’t all silliness. Charitable organizations will allegedly receive some profits from the meme currency project.
Since its start on August 11, 2023, MAGA has amassed a sizable group of passionate individuals who tirelessly promote the project on various social media channels. You can use MAGA on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), Ethereum, Base, and Solana. The project claims it has reached a cumulative 50,000 holders on these networks. In his run for president again, TRUMP uses his trademark community outreach, partially bolstered by recent events involving the former president.
The price of TRUMP has increased significantly in 2024. After starting the year at slightly more than $0.2 per token, it hit a record high of more than $17 on June 1, 2024. TRUMP can be traded on centralized exchanges such as BitMart, LBANK, and MEXC, as well as decentralized exchanges on the four networks.
ZACK (Zack Morris)
Formerly known as “Mr. Zack Morris,” Edward Constantinescu is now promoting ZACK, a memecoin he is closely affiliated with; nevertheless, he may have been in the headlines for market manipulation and “pump and dump” in the past. As per GeckoTerminal, ZACK gained an enthusiastic following 20 days after its inception on the Solana blockchain on May 15, 2024. The meme currency hit a new high of more than $0.10 per token just eight days after its introduction, and as of this writing, its recorded market valuation is above $70 million.
In typical meme coin fashion, members of the project’s community and other influential people have contributed their voices to the cause. Zack gains from the promotional efforts spearheaded by Morris himself. ZACK trades on central and decentralized exchanges, including those on the Solana network and platforms such as Bitrue, LBANK, and MEXC.
DAVIDO (Davido)
David Adeleke, better known by his stage name Davido, is a controversial Nigerian Afrobeats musician. On May 29, 2024, he joined the celebrity meme coin wave with the creation of the DAVIDO meme coin. The creators of the tokens announced the assets ticker on his X page within minutes of this. After a rapid rise to over $14 million in market cap upon introduction, DAVIDO has fallen victim to a massive sell-off. Its market capitalization is slightly more than $1 million as of this writing.
The artist’s history of participating in pyramid schemes and fraudulent ventures greatly impacts the asset’s performance. Even though Phantom Wallet and other well-known Solana initiatives have supported the musician’s token project, he has reduced the pace of his promotional activities.
Conclusion
Athletes endorsing decentralized projects, celebrities founding NFTs, and now meme coins are just a few examples of how mainstream celebrities have long been entangled with the crypto industry. Capitalizing on a celebrity’s widespread popularity can bring in new crypto enthusiasts, which could increase the general public’s understanding of blockchain technology and digital currency.
If you’re interested in investing in celebrity tokens—or any meme coin, for that matter—you should do your research and never put your money where your mouth is. The market is very volatile, so losing more than you can afford is always possible.
