Key Points
- Nigerian singer Davido is implicated in a potential rug-pull scenario involving a memecoin named after him.
- Sahil Arora, an Indian national, is suspected of orchestrating the scheme, as well as previous similar incidents.
Davido, a popular Nigerian singer, has recently been linked to a likely rug-pull operation. Sahil Arora, an Indian national, is believed to have masterminded the scheme. Arora is also suspected of being involved in several other pump-and-dump incidents.
The Davido Coin
On May 29, Davido, who boasts over 15.3 million followers on social media and 7.9 million monthly Spotify listeners, launched a memecoin named “DAVIDO”. The coin was introduced with the slogan “The pump stops when time stops”. The DAVIDO coin was launched on the Solana memecoin generator pump.fun, according to Lookonchain, a chain tracker.
Following its launch, the token address received 7.5 SOL as startup capital. 7 SOL of the transferred amount was used to purchase 203 million DAVIDO, which accounted for 20.3% of the token’s total supply. Davido then began promoting the token to his followers, even encouraging them to hold onto DAVIDO, as he anticipated the token reaching a $30 million market cap.
Token Crash and Rug-Pull Suspicions
However, 11 hours later, Davido sold 121.88M DAVIDO for 2,791 SOL, worth approximately $474,000 at the time. The token’s price plummeted over 90% from its all-time high of $0.003297. As of the time of writing, the token was trading at $0.002343, down 37% from its all-time high. This drastic price drop has led to speculations about a rug-pull orchestrated by Davido, who has yet to comment on the situation.
Celebrity-themed tokens have been making headlines recently, with several instances of these tokens being dumped on investors looking for quick profits. American media personality Caitlyn Jenner also launched a SOL-based meme coin on pump.fun, which saw a significant price drop after developers dumped large amounts of pre-acquired tokens.
Sahil Arora was revealed to be the person behind the incident, taking advantage of Jenner’s unfamiliarity with the cryptocurrency world and abusing his position as a middleman to profit from the token. Arora also allegedly raised over $300,000 in a token presale in the name of Australian musician Iggy Azalea. The IGGY coin surged over 30,000% before ending up as a pump-and-dump scheme.
Furthermore, Arora has been accused of hacking the social media account of American rapper “Rich the Kid” to promote a scam token named “RICH” under his name. A report revealed that Arora had circulated a list of celebrities he claimed he could secure promotions for, with endorsement fees ranging from $6,000 to $315,000 for major names like Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and Lindsay Lohan. Davido was also on the list, priced at $8000, suggesting that Arora could also be behind the recent rug-pull incident involving Davido’s meme coin.
