Memecoins
Hulk Hogan’s $17 Million Rug Pull Allegations
Celebrity memecoins have been the talk of the town over the past couple of weeks. A trend that reemerged in late May has quickly become one of the biggest stories around the crypto community.
The industry has witnessed controversies, rug pulling and Vitalik Buterin’s thoughts on celebrity tokenism frenzy. In the most recent development of the phenomenon, WWE wrestler Hulk Hogan has beefed with Australian rapper Iggy Azalea.
Celebrity Memecoins a week later
Despite the trend that started around May 20 with influencer tokens, celebrity tokens did not gain popularity until reality TV star and Olympian Caitlyn Jenner spear his memecoin JENNER. Alongside Jenner, rapper Rich the Kid joined the crypto community with RICH.
However, both tokens were surrounded by controversy after it was revealed that alleged serial scammer Sahil Arora was involved in the launch. Several other artists and personalities have joined the crypto space to launch their memecoins, including Lil Pump, Davido, Trippie Red and MoneyBagg Yo. Some of these launches appear to be linked to Arora scams.
A week later, most celebrity memecoins saw a significant rise. price drop or ended up becoming a rug pulling scam. JENNER, who started the celebrity craze, is currently down 81% from her all-time high (ATH) recorded on May 27.
The Olympian token, described as “the goddess of Solana,” rose from around $0.04273 to $0.009072. This significant decline also reduced its market capitalization from its peak of $30 million to $7.5 million.
Hulk Hogan fights his mother and abandons his fans
On Thursday, former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan took to X to announce the launch of his Hulkmania (HULK) token. The memecoin soared 500% in two hours and quickly reached a market cap of $17 million.
The launch turned sour when investors discovered that Hogan had sold his HULK bag and deleted his posts mentioning the token. Within minutes, the token’s market cap dropped to $2 million.
During the hours that Hogan’s X account was promoting the token, the retired wrestler was apparently targeting Azalea and MOTHER. In an X-rated post, Hogan responded to Azalea saying: “You suck at pumping. $HULK has the real milk.
Additionally, he shared two now-deleted Instagram posts featuring the Australian rapper. In one, Hogan Azalea’s profile picture and the caption: “Sahil doing his best.”
Before deleting all of its HULK related articles, Hogan shared an Instagram story claiming he had been hacked. According to the post, none of the posts were from him and would be deleted soon. Later, his X account was completely deleted and comments on Instagram were restricted.
The crypto community grew concerned as the mention of Arora’s name suggested his involvement in the scam. However, it is unclear if Hogan’s website, Instagram and his X account were all hacked or if the retired wrestler’s team was involved.
Vitalik Buterin vs. Koala Vitalik?
Earlier this week, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin criticized the current celebrity token phenomenon. On X, Buterin said he was “pretty unhappy” with celebrity experimentation in the crypto space.
Buterin explain his concern about launching tokens with no other purpose than being a get-rich-quick scheme. Additionally, he suggested some features that celebrity memecoins should have so that he “would be more willing to respect them.” The list included a “public good purpose it serves.”
To her criticism, Azalea responded by saying that Buterin “was just hungry.” Furthermore, she seems appointed a Koala named after the founder of Ethereum. The rapper uploaded a video announcing that donations saved another Koala. Her name? Koala Vitalik.
Azalea has launched a “MOTHER fund” to help save koalas infected with chlamydia. For the past week, the rapper has received donations in memecoins and several cryptocurrencies for the Koala cause.
Additionally, Azalea gives it a symbolic utility. The rapper spear a Mother merchandise store that accepts MOTHER as payment. Ultimately, the token continued to soar after hitting new ATHs and recently surpassing the $200 million market cap.
Featured image from Unsplash.com, chart from TradingView.com