Caitlyn Jenner’s JENNER launched token hits $113 million in trading volume amid confusion, on the other hand, Normie Coin loses 99% after exploit.
TakeAway Points:
- Caitlyn Jenner’s X account revealed the launch of JENNER coin on Solana, sparking confusion and scepticism among market observers.
- Although the account reportedly saw $113 million in trade volume in just four hours, many believe it was hacked because of previous high-profile cryptocurrency scams.
- Out of the $1.2 million in wagers on Jenner, just 4% of users on Polymarket think her account was hacked.
Launch of Caitlyn Jenner’s Token
The Solana blockchain token, which was allegedly introduced by American celebrity Caitlyn Jenner, has caused misunderstandings within the cryptocurrency world. Using the Solana token deployer Pump Fun, Jenner’s X account announced the JENNER token’s release late on Sunday. Given the history of celebrity accounts being hacked to promote bogus tokens or crypto protocols, market participants quickly discounted the announcement as a likely hack.
Usually, X’s security teams respond quickly to these kinds of hacks, but hours after Jenner’s tweet, her account was still promoting the token.Â
 “Nothing has been hacked,” read one post, while another claimed, “We will be solely focused on $Jenner and expect to hit the $50 million market cap in the first 24 hours.”
According to the report, market observers were sceptical, particularly because a number of American celebrities had previously been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for promoting tokens. Nevertheless, a video featuring Jenner was posted on her account approximately six hours after the token was issued, stating that the token was real and that trading volumes had exceeded $113 million in just four hours. “This is real. Get involved,” Jenner said in the video, referring to the token as “my new crypto coin.”
Sophia Hutchins, Jenner’s manager, affirmed the validity of the token and her part in overseeing the project in a different video. Some X users rejected the film as a deepfake in spite of these claims. According to reports, Jenner’s Instagram account also included token-related posts, but as of 10:48 UTC, they were missing, indicating that they had been removed.
In the meantime, just 4% of users on the prediction site Polymarket chose “Yes” in response to the query, “Was Caitlyn Jenner hacked?” By early afternoon in Europe, the market had drawn wagers totaling more than $1.2 million. Because of the U.S. national holiday, Jenner’s website did not respond to a request for comment.
The Normie Coin Swindle
On Sunday, a serious exploit caused the Base meme coin Normie (NORMIE) to plummet by 99%. Using a tax function in the token’s contract, attackers were able to issue more tokens than the planned 1 billion supply by manipulating the token’s overall supply. The liquidity pools were then totally depleted as a result of trading these extra tokens for ether.
The tax function included in the token’s code was the target of the hack, according to blockchain specialists. The significant sell-off was caused by the attackers’ ability to generate and exchange more tokens thanks to this feature, which the creators did not fully review.Â
Based on DEXTools analytics, NORMIE was among the top ten coins on Base prior to the exploit, with a market valuation of over $40 million and close to 90,000 on-chain token holders. But by early Monday, the market cap had fallen to only $700.
The Attacker’s Idea
Unusual for the attacker, the attacker offered the Normie developers a chance to recoup 90% of the money they had taken in exchange for relaunching the project. The attacker’s on-chain message said, “I offer to return 90% of the exploited ETH, keeping 10% as a bug bounty (with no reprisals). One condition: it, and the 600 ETH in the dev wallet, are used to fairly launch a new token that is used to reimburse NORMIE holders.”
The 600 ether represented a substantial requirement for the return of cash and is currently worth close to $2.3 million. This request represents one of the first times an attacker has demanded the return of cash taken from a project in exchange for its relaunch. Early on Monday, postings on the project’s official Telegram group, which CoinDesk was able to read, indicated that Normie devs had accepted the incentive offer.
Critique of Codes
Normie’s contract code was criticised by the attacker, who described it as a “copy-paste” job that was probably not carefully vetted before being deployed. The attacker said in a another on-chain communication, “this exact code is present in a number of other token contracts, a few of which significantly pre-date Normie. Most meme tokens are simply copy-paste jobs from the same small set of contracts, all with over-complicated tax logic in the transfer function.”
The attacker’s remarks draw attention to a larger problem in the meme coin industry, where a lot of companies copy pre-existing code without doing due diligence, leaving them open to similar exploits. This event should serve as a reminder to developers to carefully check and test their code before releasing it.
