Lionel Messi Pumps Solana-Based Memecoin WATER By 350%, Raising Concerns Within the Crypto Community

Lionel Messi, one of the best players in football history, promoted a Solana project named Watercoin.

Football legend Lionel Messi promoted a Solana-based memecoin to his 504 million Instagram followers on Monday, sparking a 350% surge in the token's value. However, the crypto community is raising concerns about the project.

Lionel Messi, one of the greatest footballers of all time, promoted a Solana project called Watercoin on Monday. An image of Messi with the project's logo and a link to its Instagram page was shared on the footballer's Instagram story.

The memecoin surged over 350% following the post, rising from $0.00032 to $0.0015 in a matter of hours. WATER's market capitalization increased by 325%, reaching over $100 million.

Users quickly expressed their skepticism and concern about the posts. Many speculated that Messi was the latest victim of hackers who have been targeting public figures' social media accounts in this cycle.

However, Messi's Instagram story remained up as of this writing, and there was no official report of a hack, suggesting that the post was authorized. Additionally, several users pointed out the footballer's previous endorsement of crypto projects.

In February, the Inter Miami player announced his partnership with the Real-World Assets (RWA) tokenization platform. The platform's token, PLANET, saw high volatility after surging by 1,500%.

Furthermore, the legitimacy of Messi's promotion was seemingly confirmed on Tuesday morning. Earlier today, retired Brazilian sensation Ronaldinho promoted WATER on his Instagram story. The post has the same format as his former teammate's story, with a picture of the footballer and WATER's logo.

Is WATER Another Solana-Based Scam?

Despite the posts' legitimacy, the crypto community expressed concerns about the project. Many users noted that the team behind Watercoin is also responsible for another Solana-based memecoin, Beercoin (BEER).

As NewsBTC reported, BEER crashed down last month after whales started selling off large amounts of the token. Notably, team-related wallets began cashing out, which sank the price and raised deep concerns about the project. Since then, BEER has declined by 95%.

Like Beercoin, Watercoin is also plagued by insider trading concerns. Crypto analytics firm Bubblemaps warned users to be wary of the Solana token. According to the post, insiders control 30% of WATER's total supply.

It is important to note that WATER raised over $40 million in presale and reached a $1 billion market cap after launching last month. However, the token allegedly experienced “significant insider activity,” which caused the token to plummet by 97%.

Despite this, some market observers believe WATER is “starting to look solid” based on its current trading activity. VikingXBT suggested that the token could double its price if it successfully flips the $0.0011 resistance.

At the time of writing, WATER is trading at $0.00095, a 198% increase in the last 24 hours.