Raydium, a major decentralized exchange on Solana, attempted to launch a meme coin. It backfired spectacularly. The DEX, boasting over $300 million in daily trading volume, created a token called CTO on Thursday.
They used a new launchpad, Makenow.meme. This platform creates tokens via tweet tags. Raydium tweeted: "Test. $CTO wen? @Makenowmeme". The launchpad did its job, but chaos ensued.
Eager traders scanned the blockchain for the new token. They found one with the CTO name and ticker. It wasn't the official one. In 16 minutes, this token's market cap hit $7 million. Then it nosedived.
The token plummeted 92% in 10 minutes. Its market cap crashed to $488,000. Confusion reigned in Raydium's Discord. "Is it rug?" one user asked. A mod scrambled to check.
Meanwhile, Makenow.meme posted the real CTO token. Blockchain data shows it was minted 30 minutes after the first one. Both came from Makenow.meme. The first token lost all credibility.
"What the fuck," tweeted trader Value & Time. It summed up the sentiment perfectly.
The official token didn't fare much better. It briefly reached a $6.7 million market cap. Within 40 minutes, it dropped 70%. At writing, it sits at $1.9 million.
Raydium's response? A tweet saying, "Oops, that didn't exactly go as expected". They added, "With all new technology, boundaries will be pushed—or inadvertently stumbled over". Talk about an understatement.
Investors weren't buying it. "The community is really disappointed," one Discord user fumed. Another complained, "We get an oops tweet like clowns. No apology, no refund".
When asked for clarity, a Raydium Discord mod was clueless. "I do not have any additional info other than what was tweeted," they admitted. It's a mess, plain and simple.
This fiasco highlights the wild west nature of crypto. Even established players can stumble. For Raydium, it's a harsh lesson in the perils of meme coin mania.