By Sander Lutz
3 min read
Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt
The recent craze surrounding celebrities and meme coins shifted into high gear this week, with a grab bag of influencers and famous musicians apparently jumping on the crypto bandwagon.
On Monday, Ariana Grande shared a meme that inspired the Solana token Michi on her Instagram story, sending the coin’s holders into elation.
Once crypto influencer Ansem shared the bizarre occurrence on Twitter, MICHI jumped 18%—before crashing 37% over the days that followed.
Things escalated on Tuesday when online influencer and self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate launched a DADDY meme coin to aid “the patriarchy” in its battle against Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER Solana token. (Tate is currently awaiting trial in Romania on human trafficking and rape charges.)
MOTHER, a breakout success, eclipsed a $200 million market capitalization this week. On Wednesday, Azalea visited the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to promote (shill?) the coin.
That same day, though, Tate’s man-centric token flipped MOTHER, peaking at an absurd $340 million market cap. Unsurprisingly, Tate took the opportunity to gloat.
DADDY didn't make it to Father's Day without landing in hot water, however. Data surfaced that suggested insiders had scooped up 30% of the token’s entire supply before details about it had been made public. Tate repeatedly insisted this week that he had handled the project ethically.
Encapsulating the absurdity of the week, the rapper Lil Pump appeared to tattoo the word “Solana” across his entire forehead on Thursday.
Sure. During a week when Bitcoin an Ethereum failed to impress, why not?
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