American rapper Juaquin James Malphurs, better known as Waka Flocka Flame, has come under scrutiny after the controversial launch of his memecoin on the Solana blockchain network.
The rapper from Atlanta took to social media platform X on Monday morning to announce the launch of the Solana-based token FLOCKA, sharing its ticker symbol and contract address with his 1.8 million followers.
In a short video, he declared, “We live right now.”
ZachXBT Points Suspicious Activity Related to FLOCKA
However, the launch soon faced criticism as blockchain sleuth ZachXBT pointed out suspicious activity related to the token’s supply.
ZachXBT highlighted that a fresh wallet, likely funded via an exchange, quickly acquired around 40% of the token’s supply and dispersed it to alternative wallets.
Community members on X proposed warning readers about the potential selling pressure caused by these actions.
Onchain data revealed that FLOCKA had already been live for at least an hour before Waka Flocka Flame’s tweet, leading to discontent among some X users.
One user commented that the contract address should have been provided during the token’s initial pump, calling the launch a “complete fail.”
Following the initial hype, FLOCKA’s price has plummeted by approximately 77% from its all-time high.
FLOCKA is just one of many memecoins that have emerged in the recent trend of “celebcoins.”
Notable personalities such as rapper Iggy Azalea, Andrew Tate, former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, and others have also launched memecoins on Solana.
Rapper Lil Pump even went as far as getting a tattoo of the word “Solana” on his forehead.
However, the rise of celebcoins has garnered criticism from many professionals in the crypto industry.
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin expressed his discontent with this trend, stating that he is “feeling quite unhappy about ‘this cycle’s celebrity experimentation.'”
Buterin acknowledged the potential value of financialization for worthy causes such as healthcare, open-source software, and art but criticized the idea of financialization as the final product.
Crypto Scams Increase on X
Cryptocurrency scams have thrived on X, with analysts attributing a significant portion of all crypto scams to scammers on the platform.
Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam company present on X, conducted an analysis revealing that nearly $50 million is lost each month due to account impersonation on X.com.
While these problems existed prior to Elon Musk’s involvement in the platform, the confusion surrounding the new owner’s controversial paid verification service may contribute to the continued vulnerability of the general public to impersonation scams.
The service allows anyone with a smartphone to register and receive verification, potentially adding to the challenges faced in distinguishing genuine accounts from fraudulent ones.
Just recently, Binance co-founder Yi He raised concerns about the proliferation of cryptocurrency scams on X, questioning whether Musk would take action to tackle the issue.
Since the beginning of 2024, several X accounts of major companies and crypto influencers fell victim to scams, to lure more customers into fake promotions.
In January, the US regulator SEC’s X account was hacked to issue a fake announcement on of Bitcoin ETFs approvals.
