A Solana-based memecoin, Hulkamania (HULK), allegedly promoted by Hulk Hogan, lost $15 million in market capitalization minutes after the wrestling legend deleted all posts promoting the cryptocurrency.
The professional wrestling legend clarified that the posts promoting the meme token were not from him.
HULK Value Plunges
According to a post by a Solana-associated account on X, the HULK token’s market cap plummeted from $17 million to $2 million within minutes after Hogan deleted the posts promoting the memecoin.
“LATEST: WWE Wrestler $HULK (@HulkHogan) Solana Memecoin plummeted from $17 million to $2 million in just a few minutes after he deleted tweets about the coin.”
Journalist Matt Binder also posted screenshots showing posts promoting the memecoin on Hogan’s account. However, these have also since been deleted. According to Binder, the token pumped on the back of these messages and then dumped when they were deleted.
“Hulk Hogan’s social media accounts & website promoted a $HULK crypto token today, jumping on the recent celeb memecoin trend. It pumped big, millions of dollars, & then dumped all the posts are now deleted. There’s a new post now claiming that the posts were not from him.”
Another post shared by Binder showed a video made to look like it was referring to the token launch. However, the journalist noted that it was a video promoting a karaoke night. The memecoin reached a peak market cap of $18.8 million on June 6, barely over an hour after its launch. However, only minutes later, it tanked to $2 million, where it has remained since.
Hogan Denies Association
Meanwhile, Hogan denied any association with the token and stated that he was not responsible for the posts promoting it. The retired wrestler wrote in an Instagram post,
“Please do not take notice of any posts posted today. They are not from me and will be promptly removed.”
Additionally, the entirety of Hogan’s posts on X have also been removed, leading to speculation that his account may have been compromised. However, the deleted posts are still visible in Google’s cache.
The Growing Problem Of Celebrity Memecoins
Celebrity memecoins have seen a surge, and have become a topic of concern in the crypto community, especially after launching memecoins has become exceptionally simple due to the influx of launch pads such as pump.fun, leading to growing fears of rug pulls and pump-and-dump schemes. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also expressed his disapproval of celebrity memecoins. Buterin was highly critical of the trend and urged the crypto community to steer things in a better direction.
“I’m feeling quite unhappy about with this cycle’s celebrity experimentation so far. ‘Financialization as a means toward an end,’ I can respect if the end is worthy (healthcare, open source software, art, etc.). Financialization *as the final product*, Ashton and Mila’s Stoner Cats was vastly more honorable than anything we’ve seen from this 2024 celebrity memecoin era - at least there was an actual show being funded. How do we push things in a better direction?”
Celebrities who have launched memecoins on Solana include Reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner, Rapper Iggy Azalea, and Rich the Kid.
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