Ronaldinho launches STAR10 memecoin, developers remove ability to burn everyone's tokens

Brazilian football player Ronaldinho Gaúcho released a memecoin called STAR10 on BNB Chain.

Ronaldinho said that this was his only official token, according to a post on X, while claiming it was to celebrate greatness and passion. The token's website says the token has a total supply of 1 billion tokens and that token holders are able to access challenges, rewards and events linked to Ronaldinho.

Shortly after the token's launch, concerns emerged when the token's smart contract was found to include a feature allowing the developer to revoke user balances and burn tokens at will. Smart contract auditors at GoPlus Security flagged this as a serious issue, noting that such functionality undermines the core principle of censorship-free, decentralized ownership by giving the issuer centralized control over holders' assets.

"Ronaldinho's STAR10 coin has a serious security risk! GoPlus found that the owner can burn ANY holder's tokens at will. Since ownership has not been renounced, all tokens are at risk of being destroyed without warning. To the @10Ronaldinho team: Please renounce ownership immediately to protect your community. To traders: Exercise extreme caution with this token," GoPlus Security said.

Since then, the team behind Ronaldhino's STAR10 token fixed the issue by renouncing ownership, as confirmed by GoPlus Security. This means the developers have permanently relinquished any administrative control over the smart contract, preventing anyone from altering the token’s rules — such as minting new tokens, freezing transfers, or burning tokens. "Ownership renounced already, no risk from smart contract level now," GoPlus Security posted.

Trading activity raises questions

On Sunday, one wallet linked to the STAR10 team bought a lot of tokens prior to the announcement that the token was linked to Ronaldinho. At 14:30 UTC, the wallet spent 80 BNB (approximately $50,000) to acquire 122.45 million STAR10 tokens, representing about 12.24% of the total supply, according to Lookonchain data. They had previously sent a small amount of BNB to a STAR10 team wallet that was used to pay for transaction fees.

The timing of the transactions — occurring hours before the public release — has intensified scrutiny over trading activity prior to the official launch.

Past schemes using Ronaldinho’s name

Ronaldinho’s involvement in the cryptocurrency space has been met with scrutiny before. In 2023, the Brazilian footballer denied participating in an alleged crypto scheme using his name that promised returns of up to 400%. In August of that year, Ronaldinho appeared before a legislative commission investigating the alleged Ponzi scheme.

Dubbed 18k Ronaldinho, the scheme promised returns of up to 400% in less than one year's time, according to Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. Ronaldinho called himself a victim, while asserting he had not authorized the company to use his name and likeness.