After the contentious launch of his Solana Meme Coin Launch blockchain network, the American rapper Juaquin James Malphurs, best known by his stage name Waka Flocka Flame, has come under criticism. On Monday morning, the rapper from Atlanta turned to social media site X to announce the birth of the Solana-based coin FLOCKA. He shared the token’s ticker symbol and contract address with his 1.8 million followers on the network.
ZachXBT Suspects FLOCKA Activity
While the launch was first met with enthusiasm, it quickly came under fire after blockchain expert ZachXBT exposed questionable activities surrounding the token’s supply. ZachXBT revealed that a new wallet was most likely financed through an exchange. Swiftly purchased around 40% of the token supply and distributed it to other wallets. An X community member suggested a warning to readers about the possible sales pressure these measures could generate. Several X users were displeased when on-chain statistics showed that FLOCKA had been live for at least an hour before Waka Flocka Flame’s tweet. According to one user, the launch was a “complete fail” because the contract address should have been given at the initial pump of the token.
The price of FLOCKA has fallen almost 77% from its peak at the beginning of the frenzy. There has been a significant upsurge in the number of “celeb coins,” of which FLOCKA is just one illustration. Some famous people have also launched Solana Meme Coin, including rapper Iggy Azalea, Hulk Hogan, and Andrew Tate. One rapper, Lil Pump, even went to the extreme length of getting the name “Solana” tattooed onto his forehead.
Nonetheless, numerous experts in the cryptocurrency sector have voiced their disapproval of the meteoric ascent of celeb coins. Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, has spoken out against the current trend, commenting, “feeling quite unhappy. About ‘this cycle’s celebrity experimentation.'” Buterin conceded that financialization could be helpful for good causes like healthcare. Open-source software and the arts, but he was critical of financialization.
Crypto Scams Rise on X
X has been a breeding ground for cryptocurrency scammers, with experts blaming the site for many crypto scams. According to research by Scam Sniffer, a web3 anti-scam firm active on X, around $50 million is lost monthly due to account impersonation on X.com. However, these issues predated Elon Musk’s engagement with the platform. The chaos around the new owner’s contentious paid verification service may exacerbate the public’s persistent susceptibility to impersonation schemes.
Anyone with a smartphone may sign up and get verified, making it even more difficult to distinguish real accounts from fake ones. Concerned about the rise of cryptocurrency scams on X, Binance co-founder Yi. He recently asked whether Musk would do anything about it. Scammers have been targeting prominent X accounts of businesses and crypto influencers since. At the start of 2024, to deceive additional followers into believing in false ads. In January, someone hacked into the US regulator SEC’s X account and falsely announced the approval of Bitcoin ETFs.
