Blockchain investigator Zachary Wolk, better known as ZachXBT, has called out crypto influencer Zion “Ansem” Thomas for allegedly pushing a series of memecoin pump-and-dump schemes. The heated debate unfolded on X (formerly Twitter) on October 5th, where Wolk criticized Thomas for his repeated promotion of low-cap Solana memecoins to his massive following of 507,000.
Wolk first mentioned Thomas while discussing a recent speech by Murad Mahmudov, who advocated for memecoins in a controversial presentation titled the “Memecoin Supercycle” at Token 2049. Wolk argued that influencers like Thomas lack real market insights and instead exploit their followers by promoting volatile memecoins.
In response, Thomas defended his actions, pointing out the success of some of his picks, such as Dogwifhat (WIF), which skyrocketed from a $100,000 market cap to an astonishing $4.8 billion in March. Thomas suggested that these memecoins offer better returns than utility tokens like Chainlink (LINK), which has declined 90% against Bitcoin year-to-date.
Wolk accused Thomas of hyping numerous coins, including BODEN, HOBBES, ZEUS, and WYNN, as well as coins endorsed by celebrities such as Jason Derulo and Davido. However, most of these tokens have seen significant drops, with BODEN falling by 99% since its peak in April.
Memecoins have become a contentious topic in the crypto world. While proponents argue that tokens like Dogecoin (DOGE) and Pepe (PEPE) offer substantial returns, critics warn that these coins are often used to extract wealth from retail investors before vanishing from the market.
Wolk concluded by stating that memecoins may dominate the attention of crypto traders, but the risks associated with them can lead to significant financial losses for less experienced participants.
