Key Insights
- Lionel Messi’s Instagram account shared a story promoting the Solana-based WATER memecoin, leading to a price surge followed by a partial correction.
- The promotion’s authenticity remains unconfirmed, with no response from Messi’s team.
- WATER memecoin disclaims any intrinsic value and is available for trading on Bitget, BitMart, and MEXC exchanges.
BUENOS AIRES (MarketsXplora) – Football superstar Lionel Messi’s Instagram account, boasting 504 million followers, unexpectedly shared a story on Monday that appeared to promote the Solana-based memecoin WATER, triggering a swift market reaction.
The promotional post, which showed Messi with the WATER memecoin logo visible over his shoulder, was also shared by the official WATER Instagram account. The memecoin’s X (formerly Twitter) page, despite having over 185,000 followers, remained inactive as of Monday afternoon.
Following the post on Messi’s account, WATER’s value surged by more than 55%, according to data from CoinGecko. However, the token relinquished approximately half of these gains by publishing time.
The unexpected promotion draws parallels to a similar incident last month involving pro wrestler Hulk Hogan. Posts promoting a memecoin associated with Hogan were swiftly removed, and the wrestler denied involvement, leading to a $15 million market cap loss for the token.
Attempts by MarketsXplora to reach Messi’s team and WATER memecoin representatives for comment were unsuccessful.
The WATER memecoin’s website states it was created “in partnership with the masterminds” behind another Solana memecoin, BEER, which experienced significant volatility last month. The site also carries a disclaimer: “WATER is a meme coin with no intrinsic value or expectation of financial return.”
According to its website, WATER can be traded on cryptocurrency exchanges Bitget, BitMart, and MEXC.
As of now, there has been no official confirmation or denial from Messi or his team regarding the promotion, leaving questions about the nature of his involvement with the memecoin.