Outside Source
From Argentina to Malaysia, at least five figureheads have become involved in memecoin drama since US President Donald Trump launched his own on Jan. 18.
Analysis
Ever since US President Donald Trump launched his signature memecoin, TRUMP, on Jan. 18, at least five top politicians have been embroiled in fake or fumbled token launches — a worrying number in just a month’s time.
Of particular note is Argentine President Javier Milei’s involvement in the LIBRA token. According to Nansen, over 13,000 investors have lost a combined $251 million. In contrast, the alleged rug pull allowed just 2,101 investors to gain $180 million in total.
Numerous attempts have been made by scammers to profit from the US president’s memecoin craze using the likeness of other figureheads — from Saudi Arabia to Malaysia.
Here’s a look at some of the memecoin scandals involving world leaders since TRUMP.
This year’s memecoins have not stood the test of time, including TRUMP, which is down 80% from its all-time high at the time of writing. Source: Dex Screener
Feb. 10 — Ongoing confusion over Central African Republic token
In an apparent bid to bring prosperity to his country, the president of the Central African Republic launched a national token, CAR, on Feb. 10. However, its clumsy launch caused confusion over its legitimacy.
President Faustin-Archange Touadéra’s verified X account promoted the memecoin — but soon after, the project’s website went dark, and its X account was suspended.
Touadéra made the odd decision to launch a new website and X account after hours of silence, fueling doubts over authenticity. These concerns were backed by a video posted by Touadéra’s account that triggered red flags when run through deepfake detection tools.
However, a later video posted by the president did not raise these flags.
Two models flagged a video of Touadéra as likely being AI-generated. Source: Deepware
Punters couldn’t decide whether CAR was authentic. Many warned users on X to avoid investing, just to be sure. In the end, the awkward launch was enough to send CAR plummeting down from a swift $600-million market capitalization to nearly $0 in the span of two days.
Related: Timeline: Trump’s first 30 days bring remarkable change for crypto
Feb. 14 — “Libragate” kicks off with Argentina’s Javier Milei
The LIBRA token is the most well-known example of a world leader involved in a memecoin scandal since TRUMP. According to Nansen, 86% of traders lost over $1,000 by investing in a token promoted by Argentina’s president, Javier Milei — in other words, over 13,000 investors lost $251 million in total.
Milei posted enthusiastically about LIBRA on Feb. 14, a project with the supposed intent of “funding small Argentine businesses and startups.” His now-deleted post gave credence to the memecoin, along with the posts of multiple Argentine politicians.
LIBRA pumped to $4 before quickly crashing down. Milei said the following day he “was not aware of the details of the project” and that when he was informed, he “decided not to continue giving it exposure.”
Source: Javier Milei
However, conflicting narratives emerged soon after. Milei was swiftly fighting allegations that he was involved in the project since its infancy, along with potential impeachment and fraud charges. These accusations are ongoing.
A look at all the winners and losers of LIBRA. Source: Nansen
Feb. 15 — Fake BERMUDA coin used premier’s likeness
The premier of Bermuda, David Burt, was impersonated on X as early as Feb. 2. Scammers set up a fake account using his likeness, somehow getting their hands on a gray verification badge — usually reserved for government officials. Burt’s real account hasn’t even received this badge.
The scam account began promoting a Pump.fun token called “Bermuda National Coin” to users on Feb. 15. The real premier became aware of the impersonation the day prior; he tagged X and its owner, Elon Musk, in a post, urging them to fix the situation.
“Not sure how they get a Grey Verification badge, but people will get scammed due to the lack of controls on this app. Please fix,” the post read.
Community Notes were swiftly added to the scammer’s posts promoting the “Bermuda National Coin.” Source: Deleted Fake Burt Account
Despite a delay in action from X, the BERMUDA Pump.fun token never attracted many investors. Trade history shows only two purchasers who both sold within minutes, including the memecoin’s creator.
Feb. 17 — Saudi Arabia PM impersonated for fake national memecoin
The X account of the annual Saudi Law Conference was hacked by scammers and altered to impersonate Saudi Arabia’s prime minister, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in order to promote the “Official” Saudi Arabia memecoin, KSA.
KSA was promoted under the guise of the Crown Prince on Feb. 17, riding the wave of Milei’s LIBRA. It wasn’t difficult to suspect a scam, however, given that KSA wasn’t promoted on official government channels, nor did the project share proper backing and tokenomics.
More glaring, of course, was the fact that KSA was launched on Pump.fun by a random developer with two followers.
“Buuuuy ittttttttttt,” urges Amirreza92, the dev of the “Official Suadi Arabia” memecoin. Source: Pump.fun
KSA failed to gain much traction, only amassing a market cap of $7,489 before the public caught on.
Memecoin frenzy coming to a close?
In addition to Touadéra, Milei, Burt and bin Salman, Malaysia’s longest-serving prime minister was also embroiled in a crypto scam on X. Former PM Mahathir Mohamad’s X account was momentarily hacked on Feb. 5 to promote a MALAYSIA token on Pump.fun.
And just one day after the launch of TRUMP, the government of Cuba’s X account was also hacked to promote CUBA.
This marks at least five examples of world leaders involved in memecoin drama since the US president joined the trend. But countless celebrities — including Breaking Bad star Dean Norris — have fallen into similar trouble.
The silver lining? Scammers can’t ride TRUMP’s coattails forever. According to Solscan, the memecoin frenzy is slowing down. Whether it’ll see a resurgence is another matter, but at least for now, it appears fatigue is setting in.
Magazine: Trump-Biden bet led to obsession with ‘idiotic’ NFTs —Batsoupyum, NFT Collector
This article first appeared at Cointelegraph.com News
