30 Solana celebrity memecoins launched in June; most are dead

The famous memecoins on Solana have become a dime a dozen during this period, but data shows that investors have received almost no returns.

Over the past month, around 30 celebrity memecoins have been launched on Solana (SOL), with the participation of popular figures who have capitalized on the speculative investment culture that has taken over one of crypto’s largest ecosystems.

Memecoins are a play on pop culture, combining humorous visuals and social media themes with a decentralized token economy to create a hype-driven cryptocurrency. Celebrities like Andrew Tate, Caitlyn Jenner, Davido, Iggy Azalea, Jason Derulo, and 50 Cent have indulged in the celebrity meme meta. Public status has done little to guarantee success in the web3 world.

A member of the Jupiter exchange team said that meme tokens backed by celebrities have seen an average drop of 94%. Half of the coins have fallen 99% from their peaks within 30 days of launch. Tokens from Tate, Jenner and Azalea have performed the best, with drops in the 70-80% range.

Insiders profit the most from Memecoins

Memecoins are inherently extremely volatile, even for cryptocurrencies. The potential for the price to quadruple in a matter of hours and fall below listing levels highlights the risk associated with these tokens.

There’s another layer to the steady decline seen in memecoins. According to Bubblemaps, data showed that a network of insider wallets controlled large portions of the supply. Insiders can be anyone from celebrities to team members to developers working on the project. Anyone behind the scenes with prior knowledge of the launch is an insider.

Bubblemaps noted that insiders owned between 20% and 90% of the famous memecoin’s supply for the tokens that launched in June. Insiders likely sold at high prices and were the ones who profited the most from these famous launches.

Solana co-founder Raj Gokal described meme tokens as an intuitive way to attract retail investors at Consensus 2024. Industry veterans like Andre Cronje and Vitalik Buterin have spoken out against meme tokens that have no utility or end goal. Still, coins fueled by meme culture don’t seem to be going anywhere.