The Rise of Celebrity Memecoins on Solana: Pop Culture Meets Crypto

The bull run is barely upon us but memecoins are already pulling their weight, particularly those with affiliations to mainstream celebrities. Encouraged by the ease of launching on pump.fun and the immense appeal of the Solana blockchain, these famed figures have found their way to the front row of the crypto space. 

But are they really in it for good? Or is this just a temporal wave? 

In this insightful article, we’ll explore the rise of celebrity memecoins on Solana and its impact on the wider crypto community. 

Celebrities and Crypto: A Pair Built On Social Trust

Anyone who’s familiar with the volatile world of cryptocurrencies would know that celebrity involvement is not a new thing. These stars have been actively involved in space as far back as 2017 with influential figures like Jay Z holding over $700,000 worth of NFTs and Floyd Mayweather christening himself “Floyd Crypto Mayweather.”

So, in reality, celebrities are not newbies in the crypto ecosystem. But, their involvement in meme tokens marks a new chapter because, unlike in the past, some of these celebrities have become much more involved in the launching process. And even though their presence does not necessarily guarantee success, the star power pull offered by celebrities remains one of the fastest ways to send a memecoins to the moon. 

Why Solana?

From Bonk to Ponke and Dogwifhat, Solana’s efficient blockchain has become a breeding ground for memecoins. For context, nearly half of all the tokens launched in May 2024 were generated on the Solana blockchain. While this may sound absurd, the reason behind it is not far-fetched. To start with, the infrastructure offered by Solana reduces the entry-level so that anyone can launch a token within a few minutes. 

In addition, Solana’s speed, high throughput, and low transaction fees give it an edge over other blockchains, which explains why most celebrities have decided to launch their tokens. 

How Have Celebrity Memecoins on Solana Blockchain Performed?

Since the celebrity memecoin wave took off earlier this year, we’ve witnessed both successful and failed projects. But among the lot, Mother, a token backed by Iggy Azalea, is by far the most successful based on market cap. Interestingly, the Australian rapper never intended to launch Mother or any token at all. However, after learning that someone was planning to launch a token with her name, she immediately set out to beat them to it.  

“If this guy says he’s launching my coin in 24 hours, I’m launching mine in 23 hours

Iggy Azalea

Read More: ICYMI: TOPG Andrew Tate takes over Solana memecoins, GME Soars 750%

In the end, she succeeded in her quest and what started as an accident has since become an industry sensation. Within one week of its launch, the market cap of Mother reached $200 million, becoming one of the most successful memecoin in history. And despite a significant price correction and some public criticisms from Vitalik Buterin, the token has continued to hold its own. At the time of writing, Mother is trading at $0.1836 and is set to climb even higher in the coming weeks after Iggy Azalea announced that her newly launched telecommunication company will accept Mother as payment for phones and other services. 

Like Azalea, Andrew Tate is doing everything he can to ensure that the Daddy meme token is relevant. Beyond promoting the token on social media, Tate holds a sizable bag of this token believed to be worth around $100 million. The controversial celebrity also got involved in TOPG after an anonymous trader gifted him 580 million tokens worth $10 million. However, he opted to burn it so that “everyone else could make money.”

“I am an agent of chaos with no financial goals. It’s not about money. It’s about sending a message ”

Andrew Tate

This move by Andrew Tate shows that he cares about the sustainability of the token. But unfortunately, we cannot say the same about Davido whose memecoin launch turned out to be an absolute disaster. Buoyed by a successful career, the Nigerian entertainer announced the launch of the Timeless Davido (DAVIDO) token on the 29th of May 2024, and within 24 hours the token lost up t9 90 percent of its value.

Nonetheless, some early buyers and insiders made profits, including the singer himself who reportedly earned over $450,000. Some sources claim that the launch was a pump-and-dump scheme. Even worse, some aggrieved investors have alleged that the Nigerian music star was in on it from the onset. While these rumors are unproven, Davido’s antecedent suggests that there may be some truth to it. 

Back in 2021, he launched a fan token named $ECHOKE in partnership with Bitsika Africa. The project is rugged. That same year, he promoted a memecoin named Rapdoge and an investment platform called Racksterli. Both projects failed to deliver on their promise, leading to huge financial losses for investors. 

Conclusion

The rise of celebrity memecoins on Solana is a unique intersection of pop culture, finance, and blockchain technology, offering new investment opportunities. 

But more importantly, they have brought new levels of adoption and mainstream acceptance to the crypto space. 

 And as the trend continues to gain momentum, it will be interesting to see how these memecoins evolve and whether they can sustain their value in the long term. 

Comments

comments