Lionel Messi Endorses Solana’s WATER Memecoin Via Instagram Account

By Aaron Feuerstein July 09, 2024 In Memecoins, Solana
10 JULY 2018, BARCELONA, SPAIN: Messi shirts for sell at the souvenir shop
Source:AdobeStock
  • $WATER is a Solana memecoin endorsed by Lionel Messi, which initially surged in value but later lost most gains.
  • The token can be staked to earn rewards (freezing) or burned to reduce supply and increase scarcity (vaporising).
  • Despite being promoted by celebrities, $WATER and similar memecoins often lose value, raising concerns about their impact on investors and the industry.

Have you heard of $WATER? I am not talking about the drinking kind of H2O, but rather a memecoin on Solana named after the liquid.

You may be wondering why I even bring this up. Well, turns out Football Superstar Lionel Messi, posted a story about $WATER on his Instagram account.

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According to Degen News, a number of wallets hold 35% of the supply of the memecoin – a concerningly high figure.

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The token initially jumped on the news of Messi’s seeming endorsement – from US$0.00029 to US$0.0013 – but has since lost most of its gains.

Water ($WATER), all-time chart, source: CoinMarketCap

So, What’s $WATER and How Does it Work?

Let’s not water this down more than necessary. The Solana memecoin appears to be a charity project and “aims to have a net-positive impact on [the] real world with the help of charity”. According to the project’s website it wants to be the next big memecoin.

In a play of words, they explain how staking $WATER works, inspired by the physical state of water. $WATER tokens can be staked to earn rewards (freezing) or burned to reduce supply and increase scarcity (vaporising).

So far, the token can be bought on decentralised exchanges such as Raydium, the OKX DEX and Jupiter – as well as on centralised exchanges Bitget, MEXC and Bitmart.

But be warned, they’re very open about $WATER’s status as a memecoin:

$WATER is a meme coin with no intrinsic value or expectation of financial return. $WATER is completely useless and for entertainment purposes only.

$WATER

Celebrities Thirst for Memecoins

And it’s not only Messi who is in hot water. As reported, UFC star Khamzat Chimaev recently faced criticism over his promotion of the SMASH memecoin which suffered a similar fate to Messi’s promotion.

Overall, there seems to be still a significant appetite for memecoins by influencers and stars.

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Unfortunately, most of the time these celebrity-endorsed memes lose most or all their value, leaving not only investors with a worthless asset but also contributing to a bad reputation for the industry as a whole.

Aaron Feuerstein
Author

Aaron Feuerstein

Aaron Feuerstein is a freelance writer based in Melbourne. His focus is on decentralised finance and the regulatory space surrounding blockchain. He holds a Master's in Accounting. When he is not studying the latest legal case, he enjoys his time as a modest but eager hobby cook.

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