American celebrity Caitlyn Jenner apparently launched a token, JENNER, on the Solana blockchain, but its legitimacy was questioned due to past celebrity X account compromises.
Despite skepticism among market participants and claims of being a hack, Jenner’s account continued to promote the token, even releasing a video that appeared to confirm its authenticity.
A token launched on the Solana blockchain, apparently by U.S. celebrity Caitlyn Jenner, has left crypto market observers scratching their heads.
Late Sunday, a post on Jenner’s X account said she had issued the JENNER token using the Solana token deployer Pump Fun. Market participants quickly dismissed it as a likely hack because celebrity accounts on the social media platform have previously been compromised to falsely promote tokens or crypto protocols.
Usually, such account compromises are caught early and shut down immediately by X’s security teams. But Jenner’s account continued to advertise the token hours after the initial launch.
“Nothing has been hacked,” a post read. “We will be solely focused on $Jenner and expect to hit $50m market cap in the first 24 hours,” another said.
Market observers likely viewed the token with skepticism, as several American celebrities have previously been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for even promoting tokens.
About six hours after the issuance, Jenner’s account released a video that appeared to show the celebrity talking about the token. The post specifically mentioned it was not a “deep fake,” and said the token had recorded more than $113 million in trading volumes in just four hours.
“This is real. Get involved,” Jenner said in the purported video. “My new crypto coin.”
A separate video post appeared to show Jenner’s manager Sophia Hutchins affirming that the token was real and that she was “managing the crypto project.” Some X users dismissed that video as a deep fake.
The Block reported that posts promoting the token were also made on Jenner’s Instagram account. CoinDesk did not see these posts on Jenner’s account as of 10:48 UTC, indicative of their being taken down.
Meanwhile, only 4% of punters voted for “Yes” on the “Was Caitlyn Jenner hacked?” market on the predictions platform Polymarket. The market had attracted over $1.2 million in bets as of early in the European afternoon.
A request for comment posted through Jenner’s website was not immediately answered on a U.S. national holiday.
