American rapper Juaquin James Malphurs, popularly known as Waka Flocka Flame, is facing significant backlash following the launch of his meme coin on the Solana blockchain network.
The Atlanta-based rapper announced the launch of the Solana-based token FLOCKA on social media platform X, sharing its ticker symbol and contract address with his 1.8 million followers on Monday morning. In a brief video, he declared, “We live right now.”
Suspicious Activity Spotted by ZachXBT
Despite the initial excitement, the launch quickly encountered criticism. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT highlighted suspicious activity involving the token’s supply. A new wallet, seemingly funded through an exchange, acquired approximately 40% of the token’s supply and then distributed it to other wallets. This led community members on X to warn about potential selling pressure from these actions.
On-chain data revealed that FLOCKA had been live for at least an hour before Waka Flocka Flame’s announcement, causing dissatisfaction among some users. One commenter noted that the contract address should have been shared during the initial token pump, branding the launch as a “complete fail.” Since then, FLOCKA’s price has plummeted by about 77% from its all-time high.
The Rise of Celebcoins
FLOCKA is one of many memecoins in the recent trend of “celebcoins.” Other notable personalities, such as rapper Iggy Azalea, Andrew Tate, and former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, have also launched memecoins on Solana. Rapper Lil Pump even got a tattoo of “Solana” on his forehead. However, this trend has drawn criticism from many in the crypto industry.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his displeasure with the trend, stating he is “feeling quite unhappy about ‘this cycle’s celebrity experimentation.’” While he acknowledged the potential value of financialization for causes like healthcare, open-source software, and art, he criticized the idea of financialization as the ultimate goal.
Increasing Crypto Scams on X
Cryptocurrency scams are rampant on X, with analysts attributing a large portion of all crypto scams to activities on the platform. According to Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company, nearly $50 million is lost monthly due to account impersonation on X.com.
Although these issues existed before Elon Musk’s involvement, the confusion surrounding the platform’s new paid verification service may exacerbate the public’s vulnerability to impersonation scams. This service allows anyone with a smartphone to receive verification, making it harder to distinguish genuine accounts from fraudulent ones.
Recently, Binance co-founder Yi He expressed concerns about the surge in cryptocurrency scams on X, questioning whether Musk would address the issue. Since the start of 2024, several major companies and crypto influencers’ X accounts have been hacked to lure more customers into fake promotions. In January, the SEC’s X account was compromised to announce a fake approval of Bitcoin ETFs.