Celebrity Coin Check: Reaping Season Record: 15 Tokens in 60 Days, with Almost All Seeing Over 90% Price Drop

On January 18, former U.S. President Trump launched his personal official meme coin TRUMP on social media, instantly causing a craze in the crypto market. This marked the first time a high-ranking national leader had issued a personal token. Within 5 hours of going live, TRUMP's market cap exceeded $200 billion, reaching a peak market cap of nearly $800 billion. The President's token issuance and a nearly 24-hour pump behavior also brought enough hype to the "Trump Coin."

For better or for worse, native crypto users had not yet enjoyed the new cash flow brought by the hype of going mainstream when the negative impact began to unfold. Under Trump's "leadership," more heads of state from various countries and well-known figures from all sectors of society embarked on an unrestrained trend of token issuance. TRUMP himself also exacerbated the already tight liquidity crisis in the crypto space. Where there is a sharp rise, there will be a steep fall. The bursting of the euphoric bubble came faster than we had imagined. One month after the token launch, TRUMP's price plummeted from a peak of $80 to below $13 at the time of writing, a decrease of over 80%. Similarly, meme coins such as MELANIA, issued by former First Lady Melania Trump, and "Argentine President Coin" LIBRA plummeted by over 90% from their peaks.

In addition to direct issuance by celebrities, rug pullers have found a new tactic: collaborating with celebrities, announcing token details, and then pretending that their Twitter was hacked to disassociate themselves. Renowned artist Kanye West once stated that someone offered $2 million to have him launch a rug-pull meme coin. From January of this year to the present, according to incomplete statistics compiled by the journalist at BlockBeats, no fewer than 15 public figures from various fields have already launched tokens through various means. Except for TRUMP and STONKS, all other tokens have plummeted by over 90%.

Celebrity Tokens:

TRUMP (Peak to Current Price Decline: 83.9%)

Highest Price: 82 Current Price at Time of Writing: 13.23

On January 18 of this year, former U.S. President Donald Trump's official social media accounts announced the launch of the Trump meme coin. Subsequently, Trump's personal account and his son Eric Trump confirmed TRUMP's "legitimacy" through tweets. Within just 24 hours of its launch, TRUMP was listed on top exchanges such as OKX, Coinbase, and Binance, setting a record for the shortest time for a token to go live on spot markets. Additionally, it saw almost no retracement post-launch. Within 48 hours, the price per token surged past $70 billion, with a circulating market cap exceeding $140 billion and a total market cap briefly surpassing $700 billion.

However, TRUMP's issuance blurred the line between politics and business. According to its official website, two affiliated companies of the Trump Group control 80% of the token supply, with an initial circulation of only 200 million tokens, and the remaining 800 million tokens will be gradually unlocked over the next three years. This highly centralized distribution model has been criticized by industry insiders and politicians as "legalized printing of money," directly bringing over $25 billion in paper wealth appreciation to the Trump family.

However, a meme coin with no inherent value ultimately struggles to sustain itself, even if it is associated with the U.S. President. After reaching its peak, TRUMP slowly declined, briefly traded sideways for several days, and then experienced a continuous downward trend. Currently, it is struggling, plummeting from a high of $80 to $13 at the time of writing, representing a drop of over 80%. This outcome is both a refutation of the market's "policy favorable expectations" and an inevitable result of excessive liquidity drainage. Related reading: "Trump's Coin Issuance Made Chinese Earn Billions, Leading to U.S. Crypto Community Split"

MELANIA (Peak-to-Current Decline 93.3%)

Highest Price: 13.6 Current Price at Time of Writing: 0.92

On January 20, after witnessing TRUMP's enormous profits, the coin issuance group targeted Melania Trump, the former First Lady, and released a namesake meme coin, MELANIA. Within 4 hours of its launch, the Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) exceeded $10 billion, with a trading volume of $658 million. However, the token's economic model faced significant community criticism: team allocation 35%, treasury 20%, community 20%, public issuance 15%, liquidity 10%. The next day, MELANIA fell below $4, experiencing a nearly 70% price drop within 24 hours. This event not only accelerated the collapse of TRUMP coin but also revealed the capital logic of "family-style harvesting."

Furthermore, the MELANIA team token began unlocking on February 19 and will be fully unlocked within the 13th month. Related reading: "Two Days Before Taking Office, Trump Family Rakes in $65 Billion from the Crypto Market"

VINE (Peak-to-Current Decline 92.2%)

Highest Price: 0.49 Current Price at Time of Writing: 0.037

On January 23, Russ Yusupov, one of the founders of the short-form video platform Vine, released a meme coin named VINE. Vine was a short-form video platform shut down by X (formerly Twitter) in 2016, similar to TikTok, allowing users to create up to 10-second video clips and share them on social networks. Since Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in 2022, he has expressed the idea of relaunching Vine multiple times on social media.

Yusupov stated, "I launched this meme coin to commemorate unity and the beauty of creation. I will not sell any Dev token shares, and all profits will be donated to X." Possibly influenced by the expectation of "interaction with Musk," VINE's market cap briefly exceeded $4 billion. Related reading: "Founder Issues Coin Express Pass $200 Million, Musk's Short Video Platform Vine Makes a Comeback"

Ainti (High Point to Date Drop 94.23%)

Highest Price: 1.06 Price at Time of Writing: 0.065

On January 23, the X account of the late antivirus software founder John McAfee posted the AI meme coin AIntivirus (Ainti) token contract. Reportedly, the tweet was retweeted by McAfee's widow, Janice Elizabeth McAfee, who stated that this was a move to commemorate her husband's genius image and continue his legacy. The new project will integrate McAfee's core beliefs in freedom, privacy, and technology, combining cryptocurrency and AI technology. (Note: On June 23, 2021, John McAfee died in a Spanish prison.)

CAR (High Point to Date Drop 98.33%)

Highest Price: 0.88 Price at Time of Writing: 0.015

On February 10, the President of the Central African Republic launched the meme coin CAR. After going live for 3 hours, CAR's market cap exceeded $6 billion, with a trading volume surpassing $3 billion. According to CAR token's official website, the total supply of CAR is 1 billion, but only 9.3% is publicly distributed.

Social Media Account "Hijacked" to Launch Token:

CUBA (ATH to Date Drop 99.36%)

Highest Price: 0.02 Price at Time of Writing: 0.0001

On January 20, the official X account of the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs was hacked and used to promote the meme token CUBA. The original post was deleted on the same day, and CUBA plummeted by 99.36% within 24 hours.

FINN (ATH to Date Drop 99%)

Highest Price: 0.009 Price at Time of Writing: 0.00001

On January 21, Dan Finlay, the co-founder of MetaMask, had his Farcaster account compromised and used to promote the meme coin FINN. The meme coin rug pulled on the same day, with the creator's address initial funds suspected to be from a mixer, making a profit of over 1000 SOL.

STONKS (ATH to Date Drop 53.3%)

Highest Price: 0.078 Price at Time of Writing: 0.036

On January 23, the official X account of Nasdaq was hacked, and a tweet promoting the meme coin STONKS was published. The tweet was quickly deleted, causing STONKS' market value to plummet. However, under community control, STONKS gradually recovered and established a strong consensus, which is a key reason for its more resilient price compared to other tokens.

BRAIZIL (ATH to Date Drop 99.7%)

Highest Price: 0.021 Price at Time of Writing: 0.0005

On January 24, the X account of a former president of Brazil was compromised, and a meme coin representing Brazil, BRAIZIL, was released. The original post was deleted shortly after, leading to a sharp decline in the token's price.

TIME (ATH to Date Drop 97.8%)

Highest Price: 0.13 Price at Time of Writing: 0.0003

On January 31, the official Twitter account of "Time" magazine was hacked, and information about the TIME token was posted. After the tweet was deleted, the token price quickly collapsed.

DAILY (ATH-to-Date Drop: 98%)

Ath Price: 0.003 Price at Time of Writing: 0.00006

On February 2, the official Twitter account of the UK's Daily Mail promoted the meme coin DAILY. At its all-time high market value, Daily Mail deleted the related tweets, causing a sharp drop in the token's price.

MALAYSIA (ATH-to-Date Drop: 99.56%)

Ath Price: 0.003 Price at Time of Writing: 0.00001

On February 5, the X account of Malaysia's former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, was hacked, and multiple tweets were posted promoting the meme token MALAYSIA. According to Slowmist monitoring, the creator of these tweets is associated with a notorious historical hacking group.

Celebrity Involvement in Token Promotion:

JAILSTOOL (ATH-to-Date Drop: 92.76%)

Ath Price: 0.21 Price at Time of Writing: 0.015

On February 8, the founder of the US-based Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy, participated in promoting the meme token JAILSTOOL. Barstool Sports initially started as a small sports newspaper distributed by Dave on the subway, later evolving into a multimillion-dollar business empire. Dave is a social media celebrity in the US known for his sharp pizza reviews and wild sports betting antics.

In recent years, he has delved into cryptocurrency, often casually buying some tokens on Solana and sharing his transactions on Twitter. On February 8, Dave bought $200 worth of JAILSTOOL. Initially, people did not pay much attention, but he found the token very interesting, informing investors that he would not sell and continued to accumulate. The price of JAILSTOOL skyrocketed due to his tweet, reaching a market cap of $150 million within just 3 hours. Related Read: "$JAILSTOOL Instant Recap: Celebrity Tweet Drives Market Cap to $150 Million in 3 Hours"

LIBRA (Peak to Present Decline 97.3%)

Highest Price: 4.53 Price at Time of Writing: 0.12

On February 15, the President of Argentina tweeted to promote the meme coin LIBRA, which at that time had a market cap of over 4 billion USD. However, after Milei deleted the tweet, the market cap of LIBRA plummeted, and the team behind it cashed out over 100 million USD. Over 20 LIBRA traders suffered losses of over 1 million USD, with the largest loser losing over 5 million USD. As of now, the insider doubts about the issuance of LIBRA have not been resolved. Related reading: "After Argentina Coin Cuts 100 Million, What Insider Information Did the Community Unearth in 36 Hours?"

Additionally, the well-known American rapper Kanye announced last week that he would be launching his personal official meme coin, YEEZY, stating that "YEEZY aims to create a true currency." However, just yesterday, Kanye suddenly announced a temporary withdrawal from the scene, and the coin issuance plan may be on hold.

Summary

TRUMP's crypto frenzy ultimately ended in a tragic scene of over 370,000 people liquidated and 1 billion USD going up in smoke. Overall, while celebrity coin launches briefly attracted a lot of market attention, their short-lived popularity also exposed the market's fragility. If you don't run fast enough, you will be mercilessly harvested. When the halo of the celebrity fades, what the market leaves behind is not just the steep ups and downs on the candlestick chart but also the ultimate questioning of the decentralized ideal: if the crypto world degenerates into a puppet of power and traffic, has its promise of disrupting tradition long been reduced to a hollow narrative? The answer may lie in the silence before the next bubble rises.