Notorious celebrity crypto promoter Sahil Arora took $380,000 in presale funding for a token he claimed to be Iggy Azalea’s official cryptocurrency. Over a month later, funds have started to leave the wallet but participants still complain they haven’t received any tokens.
“I sent him 5 SOL ($670) from two different wallets and he just kept it,” one presale participant told Decrypt. “I put 3 SOL ($400) into it, never got anything. I’m surprised no one is calling him out for it,” another said.
When asked about the status of the presale funds and why the SOL collected has been moved, Arora told Decrypt that he’s merely “shuffling” his wallets. But some of that SOL, around $100,000 worth, has been moved to centralized exchanges, presumably to be sold. Arora said presale buyers have been “already taken care of” and claims to the contrary mean we’re not “following events” properly.
But presale participants tell a different story.
Prior to Australian rapper Iggy Azalea launching her actual token MOTHER, Arora claimed that she was going to launch a meme coin called IGGY through him.
Sahil had been on a hot streak of launching celebrity tokens with the likes of Caitlyn Jenner and Rich the Kid. So when he asked for presale funds for the soon-to-launch IGGY token, his wallet was quickly filled with $380,000. A token “presale” is a common tactic among meme coin creators, often with disastrous consequences for these early buyers. Every now and then, however, early investors will reap massive returns, hence the FOMO.
Arora launched his IGGY token, which saw limited success, peaking just shy of a $3 million market cap after launching on Pump.fun—the on-chain meme coin factory that makes it easy for anyone to create their own token. Before his token could pump, Azalea denounced Arora and launched her official token MOTHER, which hit a $26 million market cap within 24 hours.
Still, $380,000 sat in the IGGY presale wallet.
Solana bros waiting on their Sahil presale airdrop tokens. pic.twitter.com/xIy7JlcU1H
— Avery Bigweapon (@AveryBigweapon) June 2, 2024
As the meme coin creator pushed public attention onto new ventures, the wallet left the collective crypto consciousness. This is when funds started to move.
On June 8, the wallet sent 663 SOL ($89,800) to a wallet beginning with “8A9jAg,” which then sent a similar amount to Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange. This typically means the crypto will then be sold for a fiat currency, like U.S. dollars. Alongside this move, the presale wallet sent 70 SOL ($9,485) to another wallet (E29zE9), which then sent 93 SOL ($12,500) to Binance.
Over the last month, the presale wallet moved more than 2,296 SOL ($311,000). Some of these funds were moved to different wallets, some to intermediary wallets before being transferred to centralized exchanges, and some Solana was used to launch new tokens on Pump.fun.
And yet, presale participants still haven’t received airdropped IGGY tokens.
“I would like to see him deported from Dubai and jailed lol, but I don’t think it’s very believable,” a presale participant told Decrypt via Twitter DM, reflecting on their lack of airdrop. “No airdrop, no refund,” they emphasized.
Even if Arora decided to at last airdrop the tokens today, IGGY is down nearly 98% since its all-time high, achieved shortly after launch. The official Azalea token MOTHER, on the other hand, is up over 137% over a similar period.
“I want my SOL refunded 100%,” another presale participant said, when questioned if they’d want to be airdropped tokens at this point. “Back then, he still had motion to send coins to a couple hundred thousand, now he’s lost all his rep.”
