According to on-chain researcher ZachXBT, the majority of Khamzat Chimaev’s SMASH cryptocurrency is held by insiders and developer wallets, raising concerns about insider trading for another high-profile Memecoin.
Smash is a Solana-based mimecoin launched by Chimaev, a popular mixed martial arts fighter and UFC competitor.
Analysis by a popular on-chain researcher suggests that up to 78% of the Smash token supply has been bought by insiders and developer-related wallets, raising concerns of price manipulation. In a July 4 X post, ZachXBT stated:
“Khamzat, your team is incompetent because they bought over 78% of the supply by directly connecting the team wallet to an insider wallet. Why are you all immediately destroying your reputation with a meme coin scam?”
According to Dexscreener data, the Smash token has fallen by over 91% over the past day, trading at just over 0.004 Solana (SOL) or $0.53 per token, down from its all-time high of 0.01 SOL.
An insider who holds a large number of tokens can single-handedly cause the price of a cryptocurrency to crash by selling a significant portion of their holdings on the market.
Cointelegraph has reached out to Chimaev’s team for comment.
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Team Chimaev purchased up to 78% of the supply: ZachXBT
According to ZachXBT’s analysis, at least 71% of the supply can be directly linked to insider wallets that were funded from the same Ethereum address that funded the developer address for Smash tokens on Solana.
The on-chain investigator wrote:
“Using timing analysis, we see that 71% of the insider and dev team wallets are directly linked as they funded the same address on Ethereum.”
The 24 addresses funded a total of 86.2 SOL ($11,500). According to ZachXBT, these addresses purchased 712 million Smash tokens, or 71.2% of the total supply.
As you can see in the analyst chart below, 24 addresses bought 71% of the supply, which was then spread across smaller addresses.
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Celebrity Mimecoin is harming the cryptocurrency industry
While some have welcomed the launch of celebrity memecoins as a sign of mainstream adoption, the notoriously poor price performance of these celebrity tokens has tarnished the industry’s reputation.
Most of the celebrity-backed Mimecoins fell by at least 66% in their first week of launch, including the JENNER, DAVIDO, and RICH Mime tokens.
American singer Jason Derulo’s token also found itself embroiled in controversy in late June, with analytics firm Bubblemaps claiming the singer had sold thousands of dollars worth of JASON tokens despite his claims that he “would never sell them.”
Daddy Tate (DADDY), a meme coin launched by controversial former kickboxing champion Andrew Tate, has also been embroiled in allegations of insider trading by Bubblemaps. June 12 X Post:
“Insiders bought 30% of the supply at launch before Andrew Tate started promoting X.”
Despite these claims, Tate’s token surpassed Iggy Azalea’s MOTHER token in market cap on June 13.
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