Unauthorized Dolly Parton memecoins flood Solana markets after death announcement
Unauthorized memecoins using Dolly Parton’s name and image began trading on Solana within minutes after news of the country music star’s death was announced, according to Protos. The report says Parton’s nephew announced her passing on Tuesday afternoon, and a wave of tokens including RIP Dolly Parton, DollyParton, Dollar Parton, and Dolly quickly appeared across at least a dozen trading pairs. Protos said neither Parton, her family, Dollywood, nor her estate had discussed any crypto project tied to her name. The tokens were created by third parties, had no stated utility, and no connection to Parton or her charitable work. While combined trading volume reached millions of dollars, most of the assets had fallen to market capitalizations of only a few thousand dollars by yesterday evening. The article places the episode in a broader pattern of memecoin speculation tied to celebrity deaths. It also points to Pump Fun, the Solana-based launchpad where most memecoins are created, noting that tokens can be launched in minutes for less than $100. Protos cited prior data showing that more than 99.99% of the 1.7 million memecoins launched on PumpFun never sustained a $1 million market cap, while a CoinGecko review of more than 18.6 million token launches found that over two-thirds of PumpFun tokens stopped trading on the same day they launched.
