「Bodyguard Coin」 Faces Another Sell-off: Trump Fans Dump 50% of Tokens, Market Cap Plunges
Original Title: "‘Bodyguard Coin’ Scam? Trump Mega-Fan Ryan Fournier Caught in MEME Token Fraud Storm"
Original Author: Zen, PANews
In the American conservative political circle, Ryan Fournier rose to fame as a student organization leader and Trump supporter, but in the cryptocurrency world, as a "crypto newbie," he has become the focal point of a series of controversial events.
From the recent rapid collapse of the "TIKTOK" memecoin to allegedly leveraging Trump's name to hype the "Restore The Republic" (RTR) token, Fournier's presence has repeatedly emerged at the center of controversies. Perhaps due to a translation issue, the Chinese community mistakenly believed he was Trump's bodyguard and referred to this meme coin as the "Bodyguard Coin."
Who is Ryan Fournier?
Ryan Fournier is an American conservative activist, political commentator, co-founder, and national chairman of Students for Trump. As a star figure in MAGA, he is known on social media for his image as a "vanguard" supporter of Trump. For example, Fournier once led a boycott of Walmart in 2018 because the company was selling T-shirts with "Impeach 45" printed on them.
In 2015, while studying at Campbell University in North Carolina, Fournier co-founded Students for Trump with John Lambert, an organization aimed at mobilizing students to support Donald Trump's presidential campaign. As the national chairman of this organization, Ryan Fournier actively participated in related activities and quickly became a youth representative of the MAGA camp.
However, in 2021, John Lambert was sentenced to 13 months in federal prison by a federal judge for operating a fake law firm. Although Ryan Fournier was suspected of assisting John Lambert in establishing the fake law firm in 2016, according to a document submitted by federal prosecutors, he was not indicted because he had been assisting federal law enforcement since around April 2018. However, in November 2023, Fournier was arrested in Johnston County, North Carolina, on suspicion of domestic violence for grabbing his girlfriend's right arm and hitting her with a handgun.
Fournier: Selling 50% of Memecoin, But I Did Not Commit Fraud
On Sunday of last week, after TikTok went back online in the United States, Ryan Fournier announced in X Space that he had teamed up with a memecoin trader named Asta to launch a TikTok-themed memecoin called "TIKTOK." Asta claimed to be responsible for creating the token and had sent 50% of the supply to Fournier, retaining only 1% for themselves.
Perhaps influenced by the massive surge of the TRUMP and MELANIA tokens, the value of TikTok quickly skyrocketed after its launch, reaching a peak market cap of nearly $90 million. During this time, Fournier had posted a screenshot on X platform showing his holdings amounting to $19 million. Simultaneously, Asta excitedly wrote on X, "I sent 50% of TIKTOK to Fournier, which is basically my entire supply. I just wanted to start a cool movement, and now the token's market value has reached $60 million. It would be really cool if I hold the token."
Following Asta's post, Fournier immediately sold all of his TikTok tokens. Asta expressed their disappointment in another post less than 10 minutes after the previous one. According to Fournier's confirmation of a wallet address starting with 9H, he exchanged 505 million TIKTOK tokens for approximately $700,000 worth of SOL at 20:28 UTC on Sunday. This action caused the TIKTOK token price to plummet to zero.
The incident sparked strong community outrage, with many condemning Fournier's actions. Fournier defended himself by stating that Asta had suddenly sold off TIKTOK first, and he followed suit. "So I don't know what happened... I think the guy is a scammer, and I think he just scammed me, and I followed him."
Fournier repeatedly insisted that he was a newcomer to the cryptocurrency space and was confused by some terms. "You're talking to a newcomer in the cryptocurrency space. I don't even know if I can sell anything." Fournier denied profiting from the sale, claiming to be "almost at a loss" after buying and then selling the token. He also posted on X that he would stay away from cryptocurrency in the future until he has a better understanding of whom to trust, as he looks forward to working for the new administration of President Trump. However, in X Space, he boasted of having connections to Trump's cryptocurrency advisor.
When someone presented a screenshot of Fournier boasting about his holdings, Fournier responded, "Yes, you can look at my account, that number is indeed accurate. Because the person who created the token obviously manipulated the price. I also thought that number was real." This response was criticized and mocked by many traders, who said Fournier was truly an insatiable clown. "Fournier doesn't understand the slippage mechanism of cryptocurrency trading. He thought that he would receive the total amount displayed on the interface after selling, but in reality, he only received a small portion of the funds."
"He said he would never sell and that he is reaching out to TikTok. This guy really stole so much money." Another key figure in this incident, Asta, also criticized Fournier in his response. Although there is no evidence that Asta made a substantial profit in this incident, as the 'instigator,' the community's attitude towards him has been mostly critical, with many people even saying, "You should also go to jail."
In fact, as a newcomer to the crypto world, Fournier, although relatively new to cryptocurrency, has already stirred controversy on more than one occasion.
RTR Token Event: Controversy Sparked by Using Trump's Name
About half a year ago, when the Trump family launched their own DeFi project to enter the crypto sphere, Fournier had already caused a controversy.
"We are about to shock the cryptocurrency world with a major event. Decentralized finance is the future; do not lag behind." In August 2024, Trump's two sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., tweeted, expressing not only their love and support for cryptocurrency but also hinting at a major announcement for the industry. Thus, the "World Liberty Financial" project was officially put on the agenda, marking Trump's involvement in cryptocurrency beyond just verbal support.
Just as industry confidence was being boosted, a memecoin project called Restore The Republic (RTR) related to Trump himself suddenly appeared on the X platform, with rumors circulating, and the source of this "internal news" was Ryan Fournier. Another well-known influencer, @SizeChad, released a video stating, "If they don't buy RTR token, their T level will be very low" (T level is a metaphor for testosterone levels, symbolizing masculinity). This promotion slogan of "real men should buy RTR token" also aligns with Trump's emphasis on personal "strength" and "vitality" to showcase male charisma.
After this news spread, RTR began to experience a classic pump and dump scenario, with its token price sharply rising and then plummeting. It was suspected that an insider used four wallets to trade Restore The Republic (RTR) and made a profit of $3.8 million. However, the team behind the Restore The Republic X account stated on X Sunday that Fournier was not involved in the project and had never received any RTR tokens from that team. They stated in their announcement: "Ryan is not and has never been a part of the team."
Upon discovering this rumor, Eric Trump swiftly denied any connection between the token and their family on X and condemned Fournier. Once the rumor was clarified, RTR's token price immediately crashed by 95%. Fournier and @SizeChad also deleted their previous tweets promoting the token.
Furthermore, Donald Trump Jr. also came forward to deny the long-standing rumors about the Trump family launching a meme coin. He hinted that his family is planning a new blockchain project and mentioned that this project is "much larger in scale" than simply launching another meme coin.
However, the recent eventful weekend just showed everyone, including Little Trump, the answer: in terms of scale, simply launching another meme coin would be much larger for the Trump family.
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