SBF Memecoins Pump and Dump During Sentencing

Summary

• Two memecoins were created in the wake of SBF’s sentencing – Sam Baseman Fraud on BASE and Som Bonkman Fraud on Solana
• Both memecoins saw incredible rallies and selloffs aka pump and dumps
• This case is an interesting looking at the cultural relevance of memecoins and how they interact with the industry as a whole

Sam Bankman Fried was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on Thursday. In the hours leading up to and following Bankman-Fried’s sentencing, two memecoins were launched, capitalizing on the event. 

The first, named Sam Baseman Fraud (0x55d37943f6c509ba892b1d8c35dc0399cdc3517c) and humorously sporting the ticker FTX, was launched on the Coinbase layer-2 network Base. This memecoin saw an extraordinary rally of more than 23,300%, reaching a market capitalization of $1.5 million on March 28, according to DexScreener data. Unsurprisingly, it experienced a sharp sell-off, dropping more than 85% within three hours. 

Another SBF-themed memecoin, dubbed Som Bonkmon Fraud, launched on Solana approximately two hours after Bankman-Fried’s sentencing. This Solana-based memecoin initially surged to a market capitalization of around $20 million, marking a rally of more than 18,000% from its launch value of $30,000. However, similar to the first memecoin, it also faced a rapid sell-off, plunging more than 95% from its peak.