As Grand Theft Auto 6 continues to leak by way of small snippets of gameplay, you is perhaps questioning why every video is plastered with watermarks for a meme coin? It seems when you’re having fun with the early take a look at Rockstar’s newest undertaking, others are actually profiting off of the virality.
Every of the leaked gameplay movies have marketed a meme coin known as CYBERLEEK, named after the supposed leaker and hosted on the Solana blockchain. This coin seemingly appeared on August 16, simply two days earlier than the primary gameplay leak occurred. It did not take lengthy for the value of the coin to skyrocket afterwards, as viewers curious sufficient to go searching began accumulating huge quantities of it.
Within the area of a day, the value of the coin elevated by greater than 5,000%, permitting some early holders to rapidly money out earlier than most had been capable of react. It is a textbook pump-and-dump scheme that’s ongoing, with the value nonetheless swinging wildly with new drops of gameplay and new patrons being lured in. It isn’t unusual for memecoins to be promoted by exploiting trending matters on X.
The extent of this scheme is, nevertheless, most likely smaller than you may think. In response to monitoring on CoinMarketCap, a number of patrons have made some modest revenue, with the biggest coming in at over $22,000 (a 2,000% revenue over what was invested). There are equally giant losses as effectively, with a number of situations of duped patrons who’ve misplaced practically $10,000 every.
This pales compared to far wider-reaching meme cash. Take MELANIA, a coin marketed by Melania Trump, which has earnings and losses within the a number of tens of millions as only one instance of how rapidly 1000’s of persons are prepared to wager on short-term investments,
Nonetheless, it exhibits a completely totally different intent behind these leaks that contradicts the front-facing consumer-friendly objectives of the group behind them. There are nonetheless a handful of accounts, holding the massive majority of CYBERLEEK, that have not made any gross sales. Maybe they’re simply ready for issues to get actually out of hand earlier than strolling away with their earnings.
Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on November 12, with its first gameplay showcase debuting on Netflix on August 27.