Quick Facts:
- Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has hinted at a potential meme coin launch, fueling speculation.
- BNB Chain’s new test token grew to a $300 Million Mcap and got listed on Binance.
- The Central African Republic (CAR) launched a national meme coin, reaching $419M in the market cap before stabilizing.
- Kanye West dismissed speculation that he was planning to launch a meme coin, despite earlier posts hinting at interest.
Memecoins are once again dominating the crypto conversation in a weekend that has been filled with so much drama in the cryptocurrency world. After a relatively quiet February, meme coin speculation has surged back to life, fueled by celebrity involvement, blockchain incentives, and, in a twist no one saw coming, official government participation.
Barstool Sports Dives Into Memecoins
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has taken his memecoin experiments to a new level, jumping headfirst into multiple viral tokens—and dragging his massive audience along for the ride. His latest ventures have seen rapid surges in market cap, followed by just as dramatic crashes, raising concerns about pump-and-dump tactics.
Portnoy’s first foray into meme coins last week involved a token called “Montoya por favor”, inspired by a contestant from the Spanish reality show La Isla De Las Tentaciones. He boasted about being “up a billion percent”, driving its market cap to $14 million before it came crashing back down to $1 million within hours.
Not deterred by the volatility, Portnoy quickly pivoted to a Josh Allen MVP coin, a token themed around the Buffalo Bills quarterback. As expected, the hype skyrocketed the token’s valuation to $12 million, only for it to nosedive to below $100,000 just as fast.
Portnoy’s massive influence over retail traders led many on Crypto Twitter to accuse him of orchestrating a classic pump-and-dump scheme. However, he shrugged off the criticism, insisting that he was being transparent about his trades and jokingly wondering if his antics could land him in legal trouble.
In response to Portnoy’s questioning whether his memecoin antics would get him jailed, someone launched the JAILSTOOL token. JAILSTOOL surged from an initial $1.2 million market cap to over $200 million at its peak, and on Sunday, Kraken listed the meme token in its spot market.
CZ’s Influence Sends BNB Chain Memecoin Soaring
The BNB Chain community’s latest memecoin experiment, TST, has skyrocketed to a $300 million market capitalization, all thanks to a tutorial video on token issuance and some well-timed social media engagement from Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
Initially created as a demonstration token, TST quickly gained traction when CZ referenced it in multiple X posts, drawing massive interest from retail traders. The momentum culminated in a surprise Binance listing on Sunday, making it one of the few community-driven memecoins to secure a major exchange placement so soon after launch.
Central African Republic’s Surprising Memecoin Experiment
Perhaps the most unexpected entry into the memecoin scene comes from the Central African Republic (CAR). The country’s President Faustin-Archange Touadéra confirmed the launch of an official government-backed memecoin.
The CAR memecoin debuted on Solana-based launchpad Pump.fun and quickly gained traction, reaching a market capitalization of $419 million before settling at $374 million. The launch was accompanied by a video announcement featuring President Touadéra himself, giving the project an air of legitimacy that few expected.
Kanye Dismisses Memecoin Plans Despite Initial Tease
Ye, the artist and entrepreneur formerly known as Kanye West, took to X on Saturday to crush speculation that he was planning to launch a memecoin, despite earlier posts hinting at interest.
“IM NOT DOING A COIN,” Ye wrote in an all-caps post, making it clear that he had no intention of joining the crypto wave. “I ONLY DO THINGS I AM PASSIONATE AND KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT… COINS PREY ON THE FANS WITH HYPE.”
His statement follows a chaotic series of social media posts that saw Ye flirt with crypto, claiming he had been offered $2 million to launch a memecoin and even reaching out publicly to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
As of Monday morning, Kanye West’s X account seemed to have been banned from the Elon Musk owned platform.
