Unauthorized memecoins using Dolly Parton’s name and likeness began trading on Solana within minutes after news of her death was announced, according to Protos.
The outlet said Parton’s nephew announced her passing on Tuesday afternoon. Shortly after that, Solana memecoins bearing her image were already trading across at least a dozen market pairs.
Tokens appeared quickly and most fell just as fast
Protos identified several of the tokens as RIP Dolly Parton, DollyParton, Dollar Parton, and Dolly. The report said none of them were authorized by Parton, her family, Dollywood, or her estate.
By yesterday evening, most of the tokens had dropped to market capitalizations of just a few thousand dollars, even though their combined trading volume had reached millions of dollars. Protos said the assets had no utility and no link to Parton or to her charitable causes. Their value, the report said, lasted only as long as someone else was willing to buy them.
Part of a wider pattern
Protos said crypto influencers have a record of turning real-world deaths into trading events. The report pointed to memecoins that appeared after the deaths of Hulk Hogan, Ozzy Osbourne, Charlie Kirk, Charlie Munger, Henry Kissinger, and Liam Payne, among others.
The article also noted that Parton’s only sanctioned blockchain project was Dollyverse, a 2022 SXSW Web3 experience and NFT drop built with Fox Entertainment’s Blockchain Creative Labs on Eluvio.
Pump Fun’s low-cost launch model draws attention again
Most memecoins are minted on Pump Fun, a Solana-based launchpad that allows anyone to create a tradable token in minutes for less than $100, Protos said. The article added that near-zero launch costs and bonding curve mechanics have made memecoin launchpads a popular route for initial coin offerings.
Protos said its earlier reporting found that more than 99.99% of the 1.7 million memecoins launched on PumpFun never sustained a $1 million market capitalization. It also cited a CoinGecko analysis of more than 18.6 million token launches, which found that over two-thirds of all PumpFun tokens stopped trading on the same day they launched.