Renowned American rapper Juaquin James Malphurs, also known as Waka Flocka Flame, introduced his FLOCKA cryptocurrency on June 17. However, accusations of insider trading quickly surfaced following its launch.
Concerns were raised about suspicious transactions involving a wallet that obtained approximately 40% of the coin’s total supply and subsequently distributed it to multiple wallets shortly after the cryptocurrency’s release.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT brought attention to the questionable wallet activity in a post following the launch of FLOCKA. He revealed that the wallet address had rapidly dispersed around 40% of the coin’s supply to different addresses, implying potential market manipulation.
Bubblemaps, an on-chain visual analytics platform, also commented on the launch, noting significant insider activity as 40% of the supply was swiftly distributed before Flame’s official announcement.
In a conversation with Cointelegraph, Bubblemaps CEO Nicolas Vaiman criticized the growing trend of celebrities entering the cryptocurrency space. He highlighted an instance where a single wallet held 40% of the supply at 8:00 am Central European Time, only to distribute it across 60 wallets just 30 minutes later.
ZachXBT pointed out Flame’s history of endorsing questionable crypto projects and engaging in undisclosed paid promotions on Ethereum in both 2021 and 2022.
Flame claimed to have been “studying crypto since 2001” in a post, despite the fact that cryptocurrencies as we know them today were not introduced until Bitcoin’s creation in 2008. A user on X questioned Flame’s delay in posting the contract address for FLOCKA until the coin’s market cap reached $5 million, raising doubts about the responsibility of crypto influencers like Flame.
In other news, Elon Musk pledges to ban Apple, Greenpeace advocates for Bitcoin’s Proof of Stake, and more in the latest issue of Hodler’s Digest from June 9-15.