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Cristiano Ronaldo’s name alone was enough to send parts of the crypto market into chaos this weekend. Rumors of an official “CR7” meme coin triggered a wave of fake token launches, with one scam project briefly touching a staggering $143 million market cap before collapsing 98% in just minutes. The frenzy, amplified by influencers and opportunistic developers, shows how quickly speculation can snowball in the meme coin market—and how devastating the fallout can be for retail investors.
Over the weekend, the crypto rumor mill spun out of control with speculation that Cristiano Ronaldo was preparing to launch an official meme coin. The story spread quickly, amplified by influencers and traders eager to ride the next celebrity-backed token wave. The problem? There was no credible confirmation from Ronaldo or his team. Despite this, opportunistic developers wasted no time launching fake “CR7” tokens across multiple chains, mostly on Solana blockchain.
The most notable of these scams briefly touched a market capitalization of $143 million within minutes of its launch. On-chain analytics firm Bubblemaps identified what looked like a coordinated influencer-led pump, where posts directing investors to the token’s contract address lured in liquidity. But within just 15 minutes, the token collapsed 98% as large holders dumped their bags in a classic rug pull. Most influencer posts promoting the token were quietly deleted soon after, leaving retail investors holding worthless tokens.
This case highlights how crypto influencers can create and collapse micro-bubbles almost instantly. As reported, Bubblemaps suggested the CR7 token rug pull was likely an organized group effort, taking advantage of heightened meme coin speculation following Kanye West’s YZY token launch. In the absence of real endorsement, the market became a playground for bad actors who engineered short-lived liquidity spikes before vanishing with investor funds.
Fueling the rumors was Cristiano Ronaldo real-world partnership with Binance, dating back to 2022, which included the release of multiple NFT collections. Scammers capitalized on this connection, creating a false sense of legitimacy. Yet, Binance and Ronaldo have remained silent, with no official announcements beyond NFTs. This disconnect demonstrates how quickly legitimate celebrity-brand partnerships can be twisted into speculative bait for fake projects.
The Ronaldo rumor cycle closely mirrors the trajectory of Kanye West’s YZY token launch. YZY initially soared to a $411 million market cap before sliding 74% in 24 hours, and eventually stabilizing around $75 million. Despite ongoing product promises like debit cards and payment systems, the YZY token has continued to bleed value. In contrast, the CR7-inspired tokens never had Ronaldo’s endorsement and collapsed almost instantly, underlining the difference between hype-backed but real projects versus outright scams.
The CR7 token saga reinforces several market truths:
The broader takeaway is that meme coin markets remain highly vulnerable to manipulation. Hype cycles fueled by influencers and celebrity rumors can create rapid, unsustainable valuations, only to implode just as fast. While Kanye West’s YZY token showed that genuine celebrity involvement can at least sustain a community for some time, Ronaldo’s fake CR7 launches underscore the darker side of speculation: organized rug pulls and influencer-driven scams.
Until celebrity tokens come with verifiable partnerships and clear utility, traders should treat rumor-driven launches as traps rather than opportunities. The market may continue to see spikes around celebrity names, but without real fundamentals, these will almost always end the same way—massive losses for latecomers.
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한 곳에서 모든 암호화폐, NFT 및 DeFi 를 관리하세요시작하는 데 사용하는 포트폴리오를 안전하게 연결하세요.
