American singer Jason Derulo sold thousands of dollars worth of his newly launched crypto token JASON despite repeated claims that he “WILL NEVER SELL,” according to analytics firm Bubblemaps.
Meanwhile, the token’s controversial co-creator Sahil Arora told Cointelegraph it was all part of an “orchestrated” plan.
Earlier this week, Derulo, real name Jason Desrouleaux, shared a contract address for the Solana-based token on X on June 23, which saw a flurry of trading activity and its price pump and dump within minutes, DEX Screener shows.
Hours later, Derulo claimed that alleged serial scammer and celebrity memecoin promotor Sahil Arora “got me” but promised to “do everything in my power to send this shit to the moon.”
“Despite his claims, we doubt Jason Derulo got fooled by Sahil,” Bubblemaps posted to X on June 24.
It found wallets it claimed were associated with Arora that held half of JASON’s supply, which “dumped almost everything” and made a $180,000 profit after Derulo’s first post sharing the token.
Bubblemaps said a wallet it alleged belongs to Derulo — which “received tokens directly from” Arora’s wallet — has sold around $20,000 worth of the token despite Derulo saying he wouldn’t sell his tokens in at least three X posts.
“Derulo's actions don't really match someone who got fooled,” Bubblemaps said.
“He immediately asked Ansem for a Space, hyped his community, hinted at burning tokens, and launched buy competitions,” it added.
Arora told Cointelegraph when asked about Bubblemaps’ claims that “it’s all orchestrated, we both have skin in the game and people with [brain emoji] can see that easy.”
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Arora backed Bubblemap’s claim that the wallet it noted was Derulo’s.
Asked how the optics of Derulo selling his token played into the plan, he replied with a GIF of Dagestani influencer Hasbulla saying “business, business.”
Derulo could not be reached for comment.
The plan seems to have worked, with JASON up 175% in the last day and at a market capitalization of $7.7 million, but it is down 40.5% from its late June 24 peak of a little over one cent.
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