Insider Trading Allegations in Memecoin Projects
Blockchain analytics platform Bubblemaps has levied allegations of significant insider trading activity in the memecoin projects recently promoted by Andrew Tate and Iggy Azalea.
Despite the evidence of wallets purchasing significant amounts of the tokens during and before their respective launches, there is no evidence linking them to Tate or Azalea.
The allegations, shared through tweet threads, have drawn considerable attention within the crypto community. Some have denounced the alleged insider trading, while others have said there is no such thing as a fair launch in memecoins and such occurrences are par for the course.
Andrew Tate and $DADDY Coin
However, Bubblemaps alleged in a June 12 thread that insiders purchased 30% of the $DADDY coin supply at launch, accumulating over $45 million across 21 wallets.
On June 9, a transaction transferred 40% of the $DADDY supply to Tate’s wallet before he began promoting the coin on social media. Tate publicly stated he would not sell any tokens and continues to hold them.
However, on-chain data shows that several wallets purchased roughly 20% of the supply before the project was announced. According to Bubblemaps:
Bubblemaps wrote:
“11 wallets, funded through Binance with nearly identical amounts at the same time, bought 20% of $DADDY on June 9th, before @DaddyTateCTO’s first tweet.”
These wallets now hold about 19% of the total supply, valued at $30 million. The firm added that any significant sale from these wallets could impact the coin’s liquidity.
The firm also alleged that the wallets were linked and potentially belong to the “same group.” Bubblemaps wrote:
“Since they [the wallets] are funded through Binance, we can’t 100% confirm they belong to the same group. However, the timing and amounts strongly suggest they do.”
Additionally, two other clusters, linked through a specific wallet, bought 10% of the supply before Tate’s promotional activities. These clusters currently hold tokens worth $16 million.
Bubblemaps said that Tate has not sold his tokens, but the 40% of the total supply he holds — valued at $64 million — remains unburned and could affect the market if sold.
It is important to note that while these wallets show suspicious activity, there is no concrete evidence directly linking the addresses to Tate or his associates. These findings remain allegations based on transactional patterns.
Tate has responded to the allegations on social media and reaffirmed that he has no intention to sell the tokens sent to him. He further stated that he would only burn the tokens, writing:
“I will never sell what was sent to my wallet, I will only burn and buy. Forever. Diamond hands.”
Iggy Azalea and $MOTHER Coin
Bubblemaps also levied allegations of insider trading in the $MOTHER coin at the end of May, which was promoted by rapper and model Iggy Azalea.
According to the firm, insiders allegedly bought 20% of the $MOTHER supply at launch and have since sold $2 million worth of tokens.
The investigation identified a key wallet, which purchased 109 trillion $MOTHER tokens before distributing them across seven wallets. Most of these tokens have been sold, realizing a profit of $1.4 million. The remaining tokens are valued at roughly $400,000 as of press time.
Furthermore, the wallet transferred funds to other profitable wallets, which collectively earned about $800,000 by selling roughly 8% of the token’s supply.
Similar to the $DADDY coin case, there is no concrete evidence linking these addresses directly to Azalea or her associates. These findings are allegations against wallets belonging to unknown entities based on the observed transactional patterns.
