Playboi Carti's X account, which has 3.6 million followers, was updated on October 25 to tag Pump.fun, a memecoin launchpad. The change prompted the rapid deployment of a CARTI token on Solana that surged to approximately $1.2 million in market value before collapsing.
The account had remained inactive since early 2025, making the sudden bio edit appear suspicious to observers. A token named "carti" deployed under a playboicarti handle gained roughly 18,535% in its first hour, reaching a market value near $714,600 before continuing to climb.
On Dexscreener, the primary CARTI pair on Solana recorded approximately $4.09 million in 24-hour trading volume while declining roughly 64% over the same period. Most of this volume concentrated in the first few hours, with the market value shrinking to a fraction of its peak by the following morning.
Within hours of the initial token's launch, more than 20 copycat CARTI tokens appeared across Solana, Robinhood Chain, and Arc. Most carried identical names and imagery, with valuations reaching only thousands of dollars by the following morning.
Copycat token launches have become standard practice following any celebrity-associated token launch, as deployers capitalize on search traffic spikes by flooding launchpads with lookalike contracts. Research found that only 34 of 3,374 tracked Pump.fun launches succeeded organically, representing approximately 1% of launches, while the top 10 deployers on the platform accumulated over $95.1 million.
Similar incidents have occurred throughout 2024. In July, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev's X account was compromised to promote a "Vladhood" memecoin token, which generated over 175,000 views in under 20 minutes before being flagged by users.
No statement from Carti or his team had been issued at the time of reporting. The token has no confirmed connection to the rapper, and Carti's account showed no wallet linked or contract address posted.
The memecoin market faced broader headwinds as bitcoin's price declined below $80,000, yet celebrity-associated tokens continued to attract buyers despite the downturn.
