The announcement of a 25-year prison sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of collapsed exchange FTX, triggered a predictable yet wild wave of memecoins.
The announcement of a 25-year prison sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of collapsed exchange FTX, triggered a predictable yet wild wave of memecoins. These tokens, created by crypto enthusiasts, experienced astronomical surges in value, reaching as high as 30,000%, only to swiftly plummet back to insignificance.
On Solana, a memecoin called "Som Bonkmon Fraud" (SBF) experienced a significant rally. Created the day prior, the Solana SBF token surged by 15,000% during the evening and the moments leading up to Bankman-Fried's sentencing hearing. However, as the hearing commenced, the coin began a rapid descent, plummeting from nearly a penny to less than nine-hundredths of a cent at the time of writing. Within the last 24 hours, its value has dropped by over 90%.
Another such memecoin, named "Sam Baseman Fraud," emerged on the Ethereum scaling network Base shortly before Bankman-Fried's sentencing hearing commenced. By 1 pm, right after the conclusion of the hearing, the token (FTX) had skyrocketed by almost 35,000%, with its price surpassing one cent. "Sam Baseman Fraud" has already generated over $3.4 million in trading volume today, as reported by DexScreener. However, the surge was short-lived, and the token quickly collapsed. It currently holds a market capitalization of $400,000 and liquidity worth $80,000.
These incidents involving "Sam Baseman Fraud" and "Som Bonkmon Fraud" are not isolated occurrences. Tokens capitalizing on major news events to generate substantial capital have become a recurring trend.