Celebrity Memecoins Spark ‘Top Signal’ Debate

This week, a slew of celebrities used launchpad Pump.Fun to create their own memecoins. Public figures such as Caitlyn Jenner, Iggy Azalea, and Rich the Kid have all released tokens on Solana over the last 3 days.

In the midst of the frenzy, other celebrities with a history of endorsing crypto scams have also rejoined the fray, including former professional NFL player Antonio Brown and rapper Soulja Boy.

Celebrity influence in crypto was ubiquitous at the top of the 2021 bull cycle, which has left some investors questioning what this influx of celebrities could mean for the current cycle.

Reflecting on the the previous bull market, many look back to “obvious” top signals, such as Jimmy Fallon and Paris Hilton bonding over Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs or Kim Kardashian promoting of scam token EthereumMax.

Celebrity-endorsed products in Web3 have a notoriously poor track record, leaving the crypto community apprehensive of the recent memecoin launches. Despite the lack of trust, some of the tokens have performed well so far, with MOTHER by Iggy Azalea reaching a $30 million market cap. JENNER from Caitlyn Jenner topped out at $40 million, though it’s down 65% today after Jenner decided to launch a new token on Ethereum.

Conversely, other market participants view these token launches as a combination of adoption and extraction.

Well-known trader Crypto Mckenna tweeted, “Celebs always looking for a way to penetrate Web3 as prices rise; this was evident w/ many purchasing and flexing NFTs peak prev cycle. Expect this to shift to launching their own tokens.”