Lionel Messi Promotes Obscure Meme Coin on Instagram, Leading to 350% Surge

As a researcher with a background in cryptocurrencies and celebrity endorsements, I find Messi’s promotion of WATER on his Instagram story intriguing. The surge in the token’s price following the post is not unheard of in the world of meme coins and celebrity endorsements. However, as someone who has closely followed the crypto market and its trends, I am skeptical of such sudden price movements.

Lionel Messi, soccer great, endorsed the Solana meme token WATER through an Instagram post on Monday, resulting in a significant price increase of approximately 350%.

On Monday, Messi posted an image on his social media platform, featuring the mascot of WATER project – a cartoon glass of water sitting on his shoulder. Accompanying the picture was a link to the project’s Instagram page. Within just two hours of sharing, there was a significant increase in the value of WATER tokens, with the price jumping from $0.00032 to $0.00146 – a remarkable surge of 356%.

At present, the value of WATER has retreated and hovers around $0.001, marking a substantial increase of over 215.6% within the last 24 hours based on data from CoinMarketCap. The token boasts a market capitalization approximating $94 million and a 24-hour trading volume slightly under $40 million.

The project’s website states that WATER aspires to create a positive impact on the real world through charitable efforts, without providing further details. One platform where you can buy this project is Bitget. Lionel Messi’s endorsement of Bitget, starting from October 2022, may be connected to this collaboration.

Messi’s media relations team couldn’t be reached for a comment.

Multiple famous figures, such as Caitlyn Jenner, a media figure, and Iggy Azalea, a rapper, capitalized on the meme coin craze this year by creating their own tokens on the Solana blockchain. However, these actions sparked controversy, with critics claiming they were trying to profit off their fan base without warning.

Some critics in the cryptocurrency sphere expressed doubt upon seeing Messi’s post, with analyst Eric (@ericonomics) cautioning on platform X, “Be wary, they might attempt a rug pull. It would be best for you to avoid investing in that supposed project.”

He mentioned in his post that Messi had been involved in a scam with the third token named as such. Previously, there were two other tokens, Leafty and Planet, which turned out to be rug pulls. Leafty was a fast one where the liquidity was drained within just a few days. The second one, Planet, was a slow rug, meaning it had lost nearly all of its value since Messi’s promotion.

Afterward, renowned Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho appeared to endorse the project on Instagram, resulting in a minor increase in the token’s value. However, we were unable to obtain a comment from him.