Cristiano Ronaldo Meme Coin Rumors Spark $143M Rug Pull in Minutes

Over the weekend, a spree of fake tokens inspired by soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo began spreading online after rumours started that the soccer star was preparing to launch a token called CR7.

Within hours, all these fake coins quickly attracted the attention of millions of investors world wide, with one of the fraudulent CR7 tokens skyrocketing to a $143 million market in less than 6 minutes after the token was released.

A Scheme Devised By Several Influencers

Despite the hype, there is no evidence that Cristiano Ronaldo had any role in the project. The Portuguese superstar has an ongoing partnership with Binance, which has released four NFT collections under the CR7 brand since 2022.

However, there was never any mention of a cryptocurrency launch, despite all the rumours online. Still, the association was enough to fuel speculation.

It was later discovered that the slew of fraudulent coins were the actions of several influencers, who had hyped the token, posted its contract address, then dumped their tokens while unsuspecting investors flooded in.

Most of the influencers involved have since deleted their posts.

The scam comes on the heels of the release of the YZY memecoin, a token released by rapper Kayne West which hit a $411 million market cap before collapsing by 74% in its first 24 hours.

It was also observed that most of the alleged Ronaldo-inspired coins appeared on the Solana blockchain, with at least five different CR7 tokens launching over the weekend.

Many of the tokens, however, didn't even reach a $1 million market cap before fading away into obscurity.

Ronaldo Keeps Silent Despite All The Drama

As of now, Cristiano Ronaldo has remained silent about the rumors of a personal meme coin. His only official crypto-related ventures remain tied to Binance and NFTs.

With no credible source backing the CR7 token speculation, regulators and analysts are reminding retail traders that meme coin hype cycles are among the riskiest plays in crypto.

For investors, the $143 million “CR7 rug pull” is a sharp reminder: in crypto markets, not every pitch is legitimate—and celebrity rumors can sometimes be the fastest path to massive losses.