The popularity of memecoins made several artists and influencers want a cryptocurrency to call their own. However, influencer Andrew Tate and rapper Iggy Azalea are accused of market manipulation with their memecoins.
Tate, who works in the field of sports and health, launched the DADDY memecoin, while Azalea came up with the MOTHER memecoin. In addition to the similar names, investors accuse the two memecoins of experiencing artificially created valuations.
In this sense, the accusation about DADDY is that some traders allegedly acquired 30% of the token supply. In total, they paid more than US$45 million, concentrating a third of the offer in 21 portfolios.
Allegations of insider trading with memecoins
On June 9, a transaction sent 40% of DADDY’s supply to Andrew Tate’s wallet. Soon after, the influencer began promoting the memecoin on social media, including X.
According to the website Bubblemaps, 11 wallets funded by Binance purchased 20% of DADDY on the 9th. Interestingly, these wallets had similar values and purchased the tokens before the official announcement of the project.
In other words, they managed to buy DADDY before the market knew about the launch of memecoin. These portfolios now collectively hold approximately 19% of the total supply, valued at $30 million.
Bubblemaps suggested the linked wallets potentially belong to the same group. They do not have definitive proof, but they point to similar movements to support the claim.
“How do they [as carteiras] are funded by Binance, we cannot confirm 100% if they belong to the same group. However, the timing and values strongly suggest so,” the company said.
Additionally, Bubblemaps also discovered two additional clusters, linked through a specific wallet. These clusters acquired 10% of DADDY’s offering, valued at US$16 million.
The big problem is that this sale came from Tate’s personal stock, which in theory would be destroyed. Bubblemaps warned that any sales of Tate’s unburned clusters and tokens could impact memecoin’s liquidity. The influencer denied the alleged manipulation.
“I will never sell what was sent to my wallet, I will just burn it and buy it. Forever. Diamond hands,” Tate said.
Rapper joins the list
Then, Bubblemaps also accused rapper Iggy Azalea of engaging in similar activities related to her memecoin MOTHER. The company claimed that traders bought 20% of the offering at launch and later sold $2 million worth of tokens.
The investigation focused on a wallet that purchased 109 trillion MOTHER tokens before distributing them across seven others. Addresses that received these cryptocurrencies soon sold them, generating a profit of US$1.4 million. There was still a balance of $400,000 left.
Meanwhile, these allegations have caused debate in the crypto community. Some consider the incident an example of a “good insider launch,” while others argue that “there is no such thing as a fair memecoin launch,” implying that such occurrences are normal.
Source: https://www.criptofacil.com/influenciador-e-rapper-sao-acusados-de-manipulacao-com-memecoins/
