Ronaldinho Gaucho is the latest football legend to promote the Solana token, Water Coin (WATER), on Instagram, following a similar post from Lionel Messi’s X account yesterday.
According to his Instagram story, where he has 76.6 million followers, a photo was posted on July 9th showing Watercoin’s mascot peeking over his shoulder, with the token’s Instagram account tagged in the photo.
WATER rose 38.8% to $0.0012 an hour after Ronaldinho’s post, but has since fallen back to $0.00083, according to CoinGecko data. The current price is down 71% from its all-time high on June 26.
The price of WATER has gone up 158% since Messi posted on Instagram on June 8, where he shared a similar photo to Ronaldinho’s post.
According to its website, Water Coin is known for its focus on raising awareness of water-related issues, including supporting sustainable projects that prevent deforestation and help distribute water in Africa.
Water Coin’s roadmap outlines plans to form partnerships with celebrities before becoming an environmental token focused on charities to achieve its goals.
Although the WATER Foundation has reportedly distributed only 5% of the 88.88 billion WATER tokens to themselves, YouTuber Ajay Kashaf was one of the industry critics who pointed out WATER as a potential pump-and-dump token.
“Is this real or another pump-and-dump hoax?” added crypto commentator Ponga. “Watch out, folks.”
Brazilian national Ronaldinho appeared before a Brazilian congressional committee in August to face charges of a $61 million cryptocurrency pyramid scheme using his likeness.
The scheme, called “18k Ronaldinho,” promised investors 2% daily returns and used the image of the retired soccer star in its marketing.
Ronaldinho denies any involvement in the scheme, insisting he was never involved in the project and that his likeness was used without his permission, making him a victim.
Related: Celebrity Crypto Tokens Will ‘Surely’ Catch SEC’s Eyes – Lawyers
Several celebrities have launched and promoted cryptocurrency tokens, including former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner.
UFC fighter Kazmat Chimaev recently uploaded a video to Instagram promoting a cryptocurrency token using his name Kazmat Chimaev (SMASH), but later claimed he had no affiliation with Mimecoin.
According to cryptocurrency expert ZachXBT, the SMASH token distribution featured a pump-and-dump pattern, with the SMASH team reportedly owning 78% of the supply.
magazine: 1 in 6 new Base memecoins are scams and 91% have vulnerabilities.