Author: Jesse Coghlan, CoinTelegraph; Compilation: Deng Tong, Jinse Finance
Celebrity-themed crypto tokens experienced a fleeting moment in 2024, as public figures sought to profit from their fame amid a steady rise in cryptocurrency.
But the fleeting 'celebrity Meme coin' has seen the token's value plummet since its launch, or significantly drop from its peak.
Let's take a look at those Meme celebrity tokens that faded into obscurity without launching in 2024.
Caitlyn Jenner's JENNER
Former Olympic athlete Caitlyn Jenner launched her eponymous Caitlyn Jenner (JENNER) token via the Solana memecoin launcher Pump.fun at the end of May.
This release was overshadowed by chaos, as many believed Jenner's X account had been hacked.
Even the now-deleted video ensuring she was not hacked was viewed as a deepfake, as other celebrities, including Jenner's former stepdaughter Kim Kardashian, were heavily scrutinized by the SEC for promoting crypto tokens.
Bubblemaps indicated that in later celebrity token launches, a group of wallets held a quarter of the token supply and sold off ahead of time, making $500,000.
Jenner blamed the early price drop of the token on Arora, claiming he deceived her team. She then launched the token on Ethereum, which CoinGecko states has now essentially lost all value, dropping 98.5% from its peak.
Last November, Jenner faced a class-action lawsuit for promoting these tokens, with allegations that she and her manager Sophia Hutchins 'fraudulently solicited financially immature investors [...] to purchase unregistered securities.'
Mother Iggy
Australian rapper Iggy Azalea (real name Amethyst Kelly), known for her hit single (Fancy) from a decade ago, launched the trendy Mother Iggy (MOTHER) token in May, which is reportedly part of a controversial series of celebrity token launches initiated by Sahil.
MOTHER was launched after Azalea accused Arora of using her likeness to launch the token. According to CoinGecko data, MOTHER peaked at 23 cents in early June but has since dropped about 87%, trading around 5 cents for most of the year.
MOTHER briefly broke through 20 cents shortly after launch but has since failed to rise again. Source: CoinGecko
This is not due to Azalea lacking effort. She—or someone on her team—has treated posting about the token as a full-time job, with countless posts about the token daily on X and Telegram.
The now-retired rap star also attempted to give the Meme coin 'utility' by launching an online crypto casino called Motherland a few days before Christmas, which accepted the token, and relaunched her telecom company Unreal Mobile, whose phones and plans accepted MOTHER.
Crypto analysis firm Bubblemaps claims that MOTHER saw insider activity at launch, with a few wallets purchasing 20% of the supply before Azalea publicly announced, then the wallets immediately sold off, earning a profit of $2 million.
Earlier this year, lawyers indicated that U.S. resident Azalea and other American celebrities could clash with the local Securities and Exchange Commission, which claims that most crypto tokens are securities.
Hawk Tuah (HAWK)
Haliey Welch rose to fame in June after the controversial launch of the Hawk Tuah (HAWK) Meme coin, with her slogan gaining popularity again.
HAWK was launched in December, and Bubblemaps analysis indicated that insider wallets purchased the token and then dumped large amounts at launch.
Welch denied her team was involved in any insider activities, but by then, HAWK had become a PR nightmare, with community comments on her X posts indicating the token had already become a bust.
She 'copied and pasted' the token distribution and issuance schedule of HAWK.
Welch and her token team—including Alex Shultz, known as 'Hollywood Doctor,' who runs a cryptocurrency consulting company for celebrities called Memetic Labs—then went live on X, with the livestream hosted by YouTube investigator Stephen Finderson, aka Coffeezilla.
The livestream was later removed from X.
Sharks began to position themselves in this farce, with lawyers targeting HAWK buyers who launched a class-action lawsuit on December 20 against Shultz, OverHere, its founder Clinton So, and the organization behind the token, Tuah the Moon Foundation.
Welch made her first public statement since December 20 to avoid being mentioned in the lawsuit, stating she was assisting with the class action regarding the token and urging HAWK holders to contact the law firm leading the lawsuit.
Other celebrity Meme coins
It is alleged that more celebrities promoted tokens this year, but these tokens have now fallen from their peak and are accused of massive insider trading and other issues.
The artist Jason Desrouleaux's eponymous token Jason Derulo (JASON) followed a similar issuance pattern, with its price crashing and accusations of insider allocation.
JASON has dropped more than 98% from its peak, and Derulo last posted about the token in September, having not posted about it in the previous two months.
American rapper Cardi B (Belcalis Cephus) launched her WAP (WAP) token in October.
WAP has fallen 99.7% from its peak and is accused of allocating more than half of the tokens to insiders. So far, Cardi B has published only about 5 posts about the token on X.