Police detain man for promoting token on Hollywood sign

Police officers attached to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) have detained an unidentified man who stood on top of the Hollywood sign on Saturday afternoon. In a statement after the arrest, the police confirmed that the man was advertising a crypto token.

According to the statement, the Los Angeles Police Department said that it received a distress call around 2:45 PM on Saturday, reporting the sighting of a person on a historical landmark in the city. The person, who was yet to be identified at the time, was waving a flag to advertise a cryptocurrency called the Vigilante Token.

In the statement, the LAPD mentioned that the white flag had all the details of attributes related to the token the individual was promoting. The flag had the website address, X handle, and a logo accompanied by a huge “Vigilante” printed in several places on the flag. The advertiser, who chose the strategic location, was covered from head to toe in dark clothing, wearing a dark and light camo vest, and a ski mask to shield his identity.

Police apprehend man for promoting token on Hollywood sign

The project announced to its followers on X on Friday that it was going to launch the token in the most viral way ever. Tokens launch in viral manners to help them start off with momentum. “On Feb 15th, 2025, we’re launching our Vigilante Token in the most viral way you’ve ever seen,” the project said.

🚨 BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! 🚨

On Feb 15th, 2025, we’re launching our Vigilante Token in the most viral way you’ve ever seen.

We’re fully committed to HODLing our tokens and pushing for billions in market cap. The journey doesn’t stop after launch — we’ll be rolling out…

— Vigilante (@Vigilantetoken) February 14, 2025

While its followers were not aware of what the promoter’s intentions were, it urged them to continue on the journey. “We’re fully committed to HODLing our tokens and pushing for billions in market cap. The journey doesn’t stop after launch — we’ll be rolling out bigger-than-ever promo events to keep the momentum strong and amplify the Vigilante Movement,” Vigilante added.

The project’s followers began to have an idea of what the project meant with its post on Friday in the “most viral way,” after it posted a picture of the Hollywood sign on Saturday with the caption, “Currently…”

The LA Police Department mentioned that park rangers reached out to the person and attempted to make him come down to no avail. They had to call an ambulance to be on standby in case of an injury, but officers got to the scene before 4 PM and took the individual into custody.

Vigilante drops following marketing stunt

While the unidentified man is still in custody and remains to be charged, his stunt seemed to have worked the desired miracle and the token’s price saw a burst of life, surging by 63,140%, with its market cap climbing to a peak of $5.5 million. The stunt managed to attract the coverage that the promoter wanted, with several local media companies covering the event.

Meanwhile, the token did not sustain its rise for a long time, dropping about 99.5% in the last 24 hours to trade at $0.00001136. While it looks like the viral promotional gimmick has faded out and the token has been left to find its way into the market, the developers, through its official handle, have teased a bigger marketing stunt, noting that it will be 10 times bigger than the previous ones.

Meanwhile, Vigilante is now looking at the likelihood of locking the supply of the token, according to a poll on X.

The stunt shows what most projects are willing to do to stand out in the crypto market after they create a new token. While some are deemed acceptable, others are regarded as going overboard. For instance, the Solana-based memecoin issuing website, Pump.fun, disabled its live stream feature when token creators started to use life-threatening promotional methods to force people to buy their tokens.

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