CR7 meme coin suffers $143M rug pull after fake links to Cristiano Ronaldo

Several fake cryptocurrency tokens claiming ties to Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo were deployed across the market over the weekend. The speculative frenzy came as a result of unverified rumors that the 40-year-old Al Nassr forward was preparing to launch his own meme coin. 

None of Ronaldo’s official channels made any announcement, yet opportunists were quick to capitalize on the athlete’s global fame.

According to blockchain data tracker GMGN, one of the unofficial tokens surged to a $143 million market capitalization in minutes before collapsing nearly 98% in value. The coin’s rise and fall occurred within 15 minutes, leaving traders who had rushed to buy at the top counting millions of dollars in losses.

Market analysis: Rug pull was caused by influencers

The most circulated version of the coin, marketed as CR7 after Ronaldo’s nickname, rose in market value when social media influencers began promoting it. Several accounts on X shared posts hyping the launch, only to delete their messages once netizens discovered it was fake.

Market monitoring platform DEX Screener reported that the influencer-backed token reached a peak capitalization of $143.18 million in just six minutes. The crash followed nine minutes later, with sell-offs draining down its liquidity. 

On-chain analytics firm Bubblemaps said the promotion and subsequent collapse is a clear sign of a coordinated scheme by insiders. 

“It is likely that after Kanye West launched YZY, some influencers jumped onto the wave and claimed Cristiano Ronaldo would launch a token too,” Bubblemaps investigator 0xToolman remarked. “They then launched an unendorsed token, shared the contract address, and lured investors in, only to rug pull shortly after.”

Bubblemaps continued to say several wallets executed large transactions during that window in a premeditated rug pull.

Crypto investor Loudspotter supported his sentiments, claiming that one of the fake Ronaldo tokens briefly touched a $100 million market cap before vanishing when promoters deleted their promotional posts. Though several other CR7-themed tokens launched on the Solana blockchain during the same period, none broke past $1 million in valuation.

Other reports on the social platform said one X account named “HardSnipe” promoted a Ronaldo coin on Sunday and sold all their holdings for over $500k, before the CR7 market cap shed millions. They have now deleted their account.

A legitimate CR7 token may come eventually

Still, some influencers insist that a CR7 memecoin will still launch, although this time it will come from the all-time highest football goal scorer’s official channels. Popular trader Sarah Milady told her followers yesterday: “Cristiano Ronaldo memecoin #CR7 is launching soon. Sources say it will hit $20B+ market cap, and early buyers will make 1000x+.” 

Speculation about a Ronaldo-linked token drew on his ongoing partnership with crypto exchange Binance. The Portuguese star signed a multi-year agreement with the exchange in 2022, focused on releasing exclusive NFT collections through its marketplace. 

Since then, Ronaldo and Binance have launched four NFT series together, each marketed as part of the platform’s efforts to onboard sports fans into the Web3 ecosystem.

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