Hackers Target Music Stars
Big news! Hackers hijacked the Instagram accounts of some major music artists – Michael Jackson (RIP), Adele, Tyla, and Future – to push a dodgy Solana-based memecoin called FREEBANDZ. They used a picture of Future holding a giant FREEBANDZ coin to make it look legit. The posts were quickly taken down, and Future’s Instagram account was even shut down. None of the artists have commented on the whole thing.
The FREEBANDZ Crash
This FREEBANDZ token had a crazy short life. It briefly hit a market cap of almost $900,000 before completely tanking to around $15,000 within half an hour. Ouch! Blockchain sleuths think they’ve identified the scammers, who made off with around $45,600 and $13,300 respectively from two different wallets.
Memecoin Risks and Regulation
This whole thing highlights the massive risks of memecoins. It’s shockingly easy for hackers to use famous people to trick people into investing. Remember the $ANITA memecoin scam that used Drake’s X account last year? This isn’t the first time, and it probably won’t be the last. The lack of regulation around memecoins makes them a prime target for these scams. The SEC has said most memecoins aren’t securities, more like speculative collectibles, which leaves a lot of room for shady stuff.
Kanye West’s YZY Token Troubles
Meanwhile, Kanye West’s YZY token is also causing a stir. It exploded to a $3 billion market cap on launch before losing over 70% of its value in just a few hours. The suspicion is that some people got insider info and made a killing – about $24 million worth of killing, to be exact, across 13 wallets. The token’s now worth a lot less, trading at around $0.70.