Two Solana meme coins bearing Elon Musk’s X account name plummeted on Wednesday after the tech CEO dropped his new moniker, “Harry Bōlz.”
The tokens’ respective market caps had inflated a day prior to $25 million and $8.5 million after Musk adopted the apparent reference to a scruffy scrotum.
One meme coin was named Harry Bōlz (HarryBolz), while the other was similarly named harry bolz (HARRYBOLZ). The first mentioned token has plummeted to near-zero, while the other is down 54% over the last 24 hours.
Musk first changed his name to Harry Bōlz in April 2023, saying that it was effectively a media stunt to get publications to refer to him using the term. That inspired someone to launch one of the meme coins earlier this month—just five days before Musk’s recent name change.
Tbh, I’m just hoping a media org that takes itself way too seriously writes a story about Harry Bōlz …
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 10, 2023
While Musk has not weighed in on the reasons behind his second stint as Harry Bōlz, the name change on Tuesday was interpreted by some as a display of solidarity with Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old staffer working on Musk’s government cost-cutting initiative.
Coristine, who has used the moniker “Big Balls” and is commonly referred to as such online, worked for Musk’s Neuralink startup and holds sway within the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the controversial penny-pinching group that’s not actually a government department.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that Coristine had been fired from an internship for “leaking internal information” to a competitor. On Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that Coristine has taken on a role at the State Department that may require him to handle sensitive data.
Sounding like a fake name that Bart from “The Simpsons” would use to make a prank call to Moe’s Tavern, Musk’s move may have resonated with his inner child. For meme coins that trade on little more than vibes and attention, it was enough for one trader to turn a $156 investment into $52,000.
Wednesday’s collapses echoed headwinds that arose in early January for Kekius Maximus (KEKIUS) holders. The Solana meme coin rocketed 3,000% in just over a day after Musk paid homage to his Path of Exile video game character.
The token’s price collapsed after Musk’s account reverted back to his real name, fading into obscurity without the billionaire’s ongoing backing.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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