- A trader lost $454,000 in an hour due to a poorly timed memecoin investment.
- Centralization on Solana raises concerns about memecoins and scams, according to Edward Snowden.
In 2024, the wave of memecoins has not only captured the market’s attention but also highlighted the associated risks. Such concerns were illustrated by a staggering loss suffered by a cryptocurrency trader.
New memecoin ANT a flop show?
This investor’s ambitious investment in a newly launched meme coin, ANT, failed dramatically, resulting in a loss of approximately $454,000 in just an hour.
After investing 3,396 Solana [SOL]equating to approximately $587,000, to acquire 14.7 million ANT tokens in one quick transaction, the trader quickly capitulated.
As reported by the on-chain analytics platform Kijkonchain,
“Less than 40 minutes later he capitulated and sold it all for just 773 $SOL ($134,000).”
Details of the loss
The transaction took place on the Solana blockchain via automated market maker Raydium, with ANT’s appeal rooted in its distinctive origins.
When the inaugural coin was launched on SOL using AnthropicAI’s Claude feature, ANT was positioned as an innovative artificial intelligence product that attracted a lot of attention.
However, despite the initial excitement, the token has recently experienced a significant sell-off.
While the precise factors contributing to this downturn are unclear, it is clear that the trader’s ill-timed investment was in line with a broader market decline for ANT. Moreover, it also reflected the inherent volatility of the memecoin landscape.
In retrospect, the rise of memecoin
This downturn in ANT coincided with a notable rebound in the memecoin market. According to the latter Coin gecko According to data, this ANT has a market cap of $75.4 billion, reflecting a change of 1.6% in the last 24 hours.
This resurgence has paved the way for several celebrity-backed memecoins. One of these includes the recent launch of $WAP by Grammy-winning rapper Cardi B.
However, instead of increasing confidence in the cryptocurrency world, these developments have mainly led to FUD, along with a wave of pump-and-dump schemes, scams, hacks and significant financial losses. These all highlighted the risks inherent in the speculative nature of memecoins.
Solana is at the center of memecoin scams
These issues surrounding memecoins often lead back to the Solana blockchain, which has come under scrutiny for its centralized approach.
Recently, Edward Snowden, a former NSA intelligence contractor and whistleblower, expressed concerns about this centralization, suggesting that while it could increase efficiency, it has also become a hub of memecoins and scams.
According to Snowden, the prioritization of speed and performance on SOL has inadvertently created a breeding ground for questionable projects. This raised alarm about the long-term viability and security of the blockchain as a whole.
Read Solana’s [SOL] Price forecast 2024–2025
As expected, he put it best when he said:
“But no one uses it, except memecoins and scams. Because when someone adds something significant to it, the states start moving towards it.”
