- Conor McGregor has launched a crypto token, nevertheless it shortly flopped.
- Regardless of backing from Actual World Gaming DAO and promotion to thousands and thousands of followers, the presale raised solely US$392K, nicely beneath the US$1M minimal goal.
- Critics slammed the launch as ill-timed amid a declining memecoin market—down 40% over the previous yr—and ongoing retail monetary struggles.
It’s probably not loopy to suppose that any superstar selling a crypto coin could also be going broke. It in all probability comes after years of spending thousands and thousands on lavish existence and costly vehicles, or in Conor McGregor’s case, cocaine (rumors, in fact).
And sure, you learn the headline proper. It seems like the previous UFC champion Conor McGregor launched a brand new memecoin referred to as REAL on April 5, and apparently, it was supposed to vary the crypto sport or one thing alongside these strains.
The token has (or had?) a number of functions, together with staking rewards and voting rights for token holders. Fairly modern, I suppose.
Associated: Labor Outlines Regulatory Plan to Fuel Blockchain Innovation in Australia if Re-elected
Effectively, That’s Embarrassing
In keeping with a venture spokesperson, the token was launched by a sealed-bid public sale to stop snipers and bots from hijacking the launch. The venture was developed in collaboration with the Actual World Gaming DAO (RWG) and ran from April 5 to six.
Initially often called Balthazar DAO, RWG had backing from main crypto companies, together with Animoca Manufacturers, KuCoin Labs, Tezos Basis, and Algorand, amongst others. McGregor promoted the token to his massive social media following, which incorporates practically 10 million X followers and nearly 47 million on Instagram.
Nonetheless, through the 28-hour presale interval, the ERC-20 token raised simply US$392,315 (AU$641K), nicely beneath the minimal goal of $1,008,000 (AU$1,649,376). In keeping with the token’s web site, RWG confirmed the shortfall on X:
“We have to be actual. We didn’t hit our minimal increase. All bids will probably be refunded in full. This isn’t the tip,” reads the web site.
Feedback on his X submit and subsequent failure had been fairly hilarious and harsh. One person stated:
Change the sport however retarded sufficient to launch when memecoins are lifeless and retail is broke; shoulda taken much less hits to the cranium.

Eigenmann makes an fascinating argument in regards to the dying of memecoins and retail struggles. In a single yr, the full market capitalisation of memecoins, presently at roughly US$40B (AU$65B), is down by over 40%, in keeping with knowledge from CoinMarketCap.
Associated: Australian Trading Platform Swyftx Acquires New Zealand’s Largest Crypto Exchange
But the most recent pattern in the memecoin group was the rise of Ghibli memes, which sprung after a latest replace by GPT-4o by the tip of March of this yr.