A Review of Celebrity Memecoins in 2024: A Collective "Failure" Show?

It's no longer news that celebrities have entered the cryptocurrency space. As early as 2013, Brock Pierce co-founded Blockchain Capital, paving the way for celebrities to venture into the crypto field. Since then, from politicians to entertainment stars, various luminaries have flocked in, hoping to get a piece of the action in the wave of cryptocurrencies.

However, the celebrity effect is not a universal remedy. Some individuals attempt to leverage their influence to endorse crypto projects, but the results are often less than satisfactory. Over the past decade, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken action against more than a dozen incidents of celebrities violating regulations by promoting cryptocurrencies, resulting in penalties for several well-known figures. Even more lamentable is that many celebrities have also found themselves embroiled in the scandals of a certain exchange's collapse, a storm that nearly destroyed the entire crypto industry.

If the involvement of celebrities in cryptocurrency is already a common topic, then the rise of "celebrity memecoins" in 2024 can be considered a new trend. As memecoins have replaced NFTs as the new favorites of speculators, many celebrities have also followed suit, personally launching their own memecoins and even attempting to build business models around these tokens.

In just the past year, nearly a dozen big-name celebrities from Europe and America have launched their own memecoins. Community feedback has been mixed, with more negative impacts.

Traditional investors often believe that Bitcoin investors have a higher risk tolerance, but the fanatics of memecoins are the true risk-takers—like being in the Wild West, the price of the tokens in hand can surge or plummet in an instant.

On a certain memecoin issuance platform, this madness is vividly expressed. Olympic decathlon champion Caitlyn Jenner launched her own memecoin on the platform, kicking off the celebrity memecoin craze.

There have been quite a few "mind-blowing" stories on this platform. There was a user who threatened that if his memecoin wasn't purchased, he would end the life of a little goldfish; another person claimed he would sit on the toilet until his token's market value reached 50 million dollars (when the market value reached 10 million dollars, he actually shaved off one of his eyebrows). There were also some individuals who took even more extreme actions, such as a young man who actually engaged in self-harm.

At the height of the platform's popularity, in May 2024, Jenner teamed up with Trump, who was actively preparing for his campaign at the time, to launch his own token.

This move has sparked huge controversy, with many even suspecting that Jenner's social media account was hacked or that this is an AI deepfake scam. Even the founder of the platform was taken aback.

The co-founder of the platform said: "I was almost dumbfounded at the time." He described it as one of the craziest moments in the company's brief yet brilliant history: "We tweeted that she had launched a coin, and then we were all stunned, 'Did she really launch a coin?' I completely couldn't understand what was happening, it was too crazy."

It has been proven that the mastermind behind Jenner's "circus" is cryptocurrency promoter Sahil Arora. He signed a contract with Jenner, promising to issue tokens for her and agreeing to pay a $50,000 advance, as well as an 80% revenue share.

However, this collaboration quickly turned into a farce. Jenner accused Arora of breaching the contract and publicly lashed out on social media: "F...k Sahil Arora! He tricked us!"

In an interview in May, Jenner stated that Sahil Arora "vanished" after showing several wire transfer records, and still owes her "a large sum of money." Arora did not respond to the request for comment at the time.

But this is just the beginning.

After collaborating with R&B singer Jason Derulo to issue tokens, Derulo publicly accused himself of being deceived by Alora. Alora responded by stating that this was all "part of the script." After that, Alora issued tokens for rappers Rich the Kid and Lil Pump, resulting in these stars also complaining about similar experiences.

Subsequently, celebrities such as rappers Cardi B, Waka Flocka Flame, and Sean Kingston also issued their own tokens, but did not publicly collaborate with Alora.

The data visualization company Bubbleworks published a long article on social media "criticizing" Alora, claiming that he earned 30 million dollars this year by acting as an agent for celebrities to issue memecoins.

Nick Vaiman, co-founder and CEO of Bubblemaps, stated: "Many tokens have obvious warning signs from the very beginning, such as high control, malicious manipulation, and clear 'dumping' strategies."

Of course, not all celebrity memecoin launches end in a fiasco. Australian musician Iggy Azalea is an exception. Although her token MOTHER was questioned by Bubblemaps due to being "sniped" 20% of its supply at launch, she claims to be unaware of it.

The on-chain detective of Bubblemaps pointed out that such a situation could only occur if the token contract address was leaked in advance to insiders.

However, after Iggy Azalea participated in a social media event, showcasing her understanding of crypto and publicly criticizing Alora, the public opinion shifted.

The founder of the platform said: "When we realized she really knows her stuff, we were very optimistic about her. It felt amazing."

A few months later, more and more celebrities issued tokens, which then became junk coins. Jenner even issued an Ethereum token, leading to a significant drop in the price of the Solana token she initially released.

So, what is the current status of these celebrity memecoins?

As of the time of writing, Jenner's memecoin market cap on Solana is only $357,000, while her Ethereum token market cap is just $139,000, far below the previous peaks of $42 million and $7.5 million, respectively.

JASON token of Jason Derulo has dropped 97.8% from its peak, with a market cap shrinking to $783,000;

The FLOCKA token of Waka Flocka Flame has dropped by 99%, with a market value of only $238,000; the bundled token WAP has plummeted by 99.65%, with a market value of less than $138,000.

Iggy Azalea said: "Most celebrities involved in this have the worst intentions. I don't think any of them really want to create a cryptocurrency; they just want to cash in quickly and then walk away."

With the collapse of these tokens and the departure of celebrities, the first lawsuit followed. In November 2024, a group of investors filed a class-action lawsuit against Jenner and her agents, accusing her of making misleading statements about her Solana memecoin and failing to register it as a security.

Jenner's team did not respond to requests for comment.

Some cryptocurrency legal experts suggest that there may be more civil lawsuits of this kind in the future. "We will see an increase in lawsuits involving celebrity endorsements of memecoins," said internet lawyer Andrew Rosso. "Celebrities will increasingly need to be held accountable for their promotional activities, and they may even face broader legal liabilities as 'sellers' of these digital assets."

Digital asset lawyer Carlo DeAngelo stated: "Jenna's lawsuit serves as a clear warning to any celebrity who thinks they can exploit fame by over-promising and delivering memecoins just for a quick cash grab."

Some crypto advocates believe that celebrity memecoins help attract young people to enter the crypto space. For example, Alora has stated that he launched the celebrity memecoin craze to make cryptocurrency more mainstream than ever before.

Nick Vaiman, the founder of Bubblemaps, concluded: "For a narrative to be successful, it needs universality, hope, and role models. It must be able to appeal to the masses and create real success stories to maintain hope and inspire others. However, celebrity crypto projects have failed to establish such a virtuous cycle and instead have devolved into a predatory mechanism that siphons liquidity from retail investors, leaving everyone with nothing."