Rumors of a new Cristiano Ronaldo memecoin led to the launch of a fake “CR7” token that soared to a $143 million market cap before crashing by 98% in just 15 minutes.
Some on-chain analysts described the event as a “rug pull,” a common crypto scam where a project’s developers or promoters lure investors and then suddenly abandon the project, taking the funds with them.
The incident highlights a troubling pattern of celebrity-themed scams, with the CR7 “rug pull” closely following a similar, albeit official, launch by Kanye West that also saw a dramatic pump-and-dump.