The FIFA World Cup 2026 frenzy has taken over the world, and the crypto industry is no exception. Unsurprisingly, a number of football-themed memecoins have popped up trying to ride the trend, such as the MESSI token which is being seen with a degree of suspicion.
MESSI token trends, but trade with caution
As the FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico continues its group stage phase, spectators are closely following their favorite football stars – such as Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland, and others.
In Friday’s Group J fixture between Argentina and Austria, the South American football maestro Messi scored a brace, leading his team to a comfortable 2-0 victory over the European football team. He also became the highest individual goal-scorer in the tournament’s history, eclipsing former German striker Miroslav Klose.
The memecoin space wasted no time in encashing the jubilation surrounding Messi’s historical feat, as several Messi-themed memecoins quickly surfaced on social media platform X.
In an X post on Monday, crypto scam investigator Devs Chaser cautioned about a suspicious Messi-themed scam token in the Solana ecosystem.
The token, with the smart contract address DXEkQNEDw7LWrkVSUZJrLeNzDgtxcdJg5KNqFYjDUnRJ shows several red flags quintessential of scam tokens.
The following screenshot from Solana memecoin launch platform Pump.fun shows that the MESSI token’s total market cap is around $107,000, and has skyrocketed by 257 percent over the past 24 hours.
Devs Chaser noted that 18 fresh wallets linked to the MESSI token control 55.1 percent of its total supply. Usually, when such a small number of wallets own such a high amount of a token, there is a high chance of ensuing price manipulation.
Further, multiple wallets associated with the MESSI token show almost identical buy-sell behavior. Nefarious elements typically perform such coordinated wash-trading to artificially inflate the token’s trading volume, and attract retail investors.
In addition, there is no prominent key opinion leader (KOL) or seasoned memecoin trader who is actively trading the token.
Last but not least, and perhaps the biggest red flag, is that the top 20 MESSI wallets hold $217,550 worth of the token, which exceeds the pool liquidity worth $28,056. In case these wallet owners decided to dump their holdings, the token price would instantly crash to 0.
Better safe than sorry
Crypto memecoins tend to grab the spotlight whenever a particular global development or event starts to dominate news cycles. For instance, on May 8, several Solana-based UFO memecoins started to trend after the Pentagon released the so-called ‘alien’ files.
While some memecoins may be legitimate, the vast majority of such cryptocurrencies are intended to swindle investors.
On June 4, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint gave a clear warning that FIFA World Cup 2026 fans could be at heightened risk of being targeted by scams. The aforementioned MESSI token is just the latest example of innovative means to defraud unsuspecting investors.
