Surge of Meme Coins Following Hulk Hogan’s Passing
A day after the passing of wrestling legend Hulk Hogan, a surge of new meme coins emerged in the crypto market, although the most significant token quickly revealed itself to be fraudulent. Hogan, whose birth name was Terry Bollea, died yesterday, igniting a flurry of activity within the meme coin sector. Almost immediately, a token named “Hulk Hogan Tribute” surfaced on decentralized exchanges, attracting enthusiastic traders eager to pay homage to the beloved star. Among these tokens, Hulk/SOL gained notable attention, skyrocketing to a market cap of $7 million. Despite early alerts from the community regarding the token’s dubious nature and evident signs of artificial trading patterns, investors continued to flock to it. Ultimately, the coin plummeted dramatically in a single trading candle, and as of the latest updates, its market cap now stands at a mere $5,700, with just $7,100 remaining in the liquidity pool. This represents a staggering decline of over 99.7% within 24 hours.
Community Warnings and Automated Trading Activity
Crypto watchdogs across social media quickly identified HULK as a scam. However, its price inflated rapidly, largely fueled by automated bot trading. In addition to the tribute token, various NFT collections emerged to commemorate Hogan, with traders creating digital artworks depicting the wrestler in iconic poses. Other meme coins also attempted to leverage his name to attract buyers. Yet, compared to the swift rise and subsequent crash of the tribute coin, these other assets failed to garner significant trading activity or interest. This is not the first time Hogan’s name has been linked to dubious crypto ventures; last year, his official X account was compromised to promote a “Hulkamania” token in a similar fashion. Although Hogan’s team regained control and removed the promotional content, the token ultimately resulted in a rug pull. In response to news of his passing, some traders resurrected the HULK token from the previous incident for one last surge. Analyzing the token’s price reveals a sharp initial increase followed by a steady downturn. Ironically, last year’s rug pull appeared more organic compared to the recent launches associated with his name. Nonetheless, the revived token never achieved more than one-seventh of the tribute coin’s highest value, with its decline featuring several brief recoveries, known as “dead cat” bounces, allowing a few traders to profit before the inevitable fall.
Ben Askren’s Promotion of a Scam Coin
The meme coin scam phenomenon seems to be intensifying. In a related incident, former UFC fighter Ben Askren inadvertently promoted a fraudulent coin through his X account this week. Since late May, Askren has been battling severe pneumonia, which resulted in a double lung transplant earlier this month. Doctors provided him with weeks of care in the hospital, and Askren later mentioned having no recollection of the whole month of June, even feeling as if he had died multiple times. His condition was critical enough to cause concern among fans regarding his survival. On Tuesday, after nearly 60 days of treatment, Askren finally left the hospital. Within 24 hours, his X account urged followers to invest in “FUNKY,” a new Solana-based meme coin named after his wrestling and MMA nickname. Reports indicated that the token was part of a paid promotion orchestrated by Sahil Arora, known for launching similar fraudulent schemes. The meme coin experienced minimal genuine trading before the deployer liquidated the entire supply in a single transaction, causing FUNKY’s price to plummet to zero. The creator managed to cash out only $1,200, deemed trivial by the crypto community. This incident ranks among the least damaging rug pulls in history due to the minimal financial impact.
Concerns over Account Security
Many suspect that Askren’s account was either hacked or utilized without his complete consent. His team has yet to confirm whether the post was authentic or a product of a security breach.
