Nearly 150 memecoins inspired by the tragic death of One Direction vocalist Liam Payne were launched on the cryptocurrency platform Pump.fun just minutes following the announcement of his passing.
The initial memecoin dedicated to Payne’s demise was established yesterday at 9:29 PM (UTC+1), just moments after his death occurred at approximately 5 PM in Argentina (UTC−3). Payne reportedly fell from the third floor of his hotel balcony shortly after police received a call regarding an “aggressive individual who may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol.” Authorities discovered his room in disarray, with various drug-related items scattered across the bathtub and floor.
Subsequently, throughout the night and into the following morning, 142 additional memecoins were generated in a bid to capitalize on the news surrounding the singer’s death.
Read more: Studies indicate that less than 0.002% of memecoins on Pump.fun achieve success
The majority of the memecoins inspired by Payne purport to be tributes to him or his beloved dog. Some, however, are in poor taste, referencing the balcony he fell from and the hotel room that was allegedly left in disarray prior to the incident.
This kind of behavior is prevalent among memecoin creators, who often rush to create new coins in response to breaking news or simply select a random word in hopes of catching a trend.
For example, when a recent HBO documentary’s footage suggested that former Bitcoin developer Peter Todd was Satoshi Nakamoto, users on Pump.fun quickly started generating memecoins based on Todd and his pet dog. Many of these coins invented pets that Todd didn’t even own.
Yet as the situation surrounding Payne exemplifies, there’s no incident too soon or too shocking for memecoin creators looking to profit.
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