Justin Sun-linked wallet bombarded with memecoins after pledge to start trading them

Quick Take

  • Justin Sun gifted a series of memecoins shortly after he announced he planned to trade the coins for fun.
  • The trick is common when traders want to inflate the prospects of a certain coin.

Soon after Justin Sun announced on Twitter he would trade memecoins for "fun," opportunists appear to have leaped into action, with several wallets gifting the Tron founder a load of near-worthless tokens.

Sending Sun memecoins — to make it seem as though he's buying them — mirrors a common ruse intended to trick traders into thinking a particular token market is about to heat up, according to The Block Research Analyst Steven Zheng.

“It is not surprising that after Sun’s tweet we saw an influx of memecoins being sent to his account," he said. "Oftentimes scammers and promoters send their tokens to popular influencer addresses to trick people into buying their coins.”

The developments come amid the ongoing craze around so-called memecoins, or tokens with little purpose beyond pure market speculation. Would-be promoters seeking attention via Sun's extensive public platform — and using the network itself to do so — speak to the current moment.

It's also an environment where would-be scammers have sought to exploit unsuspecting token holders. Earlier this week, a pepe-themed NFT scam circulated on Twitter that had been organized to appear legitimate. 

Justin Sun memecoin warning

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PeckShieldAlert appears to have first noticed the activity and posted a warning to Twitter.

Sun “continues to receive multiple shitcoins following his tweets,” the post reads. “We have noticed that a scammer gang created a counterfeit four [coin] ... days ago and used [a wallet in order to pretend] to be Justin Sun.”

Etherscan data indicates that Sun has been gifted several different memecoins, including WEED, METH and NGMI.

Sun did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


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About Author

RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block who covers a wide array of topics including U.S.-based companies, blockchain gaming and NFTs. Formerly covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, where he wrote about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros. and the creator economy while focusing primarily on technological disruption across media. Previous to that he covered corporate, economic and political news in Brazil while at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a diverse cast of characters including CEOs, media moguls, top influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug traffickers and convicted criminals. Holds a master's degree in Digital Sociology.

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