Memecoin inspired by Flávio Bolsonaro banned by Brazilian court

• The project's website presented itself as independent from parties and candidates.
• An Instagram profile from Uganda, with 13 million followers, promoted the memecoin B22.

The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) of Brazil ordered on October 9 the immediate suspension of the website for the Brasil 22 Token (B22) project, a memecoin created on the Solana network that presented itself as a movement supporting vote 22, the number corresponding to presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro.

The decision, signed by Minister Estela Aranha, responded to a request from Brasil Pronto Pra Mais, the alliance of parties supporting Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's candidacy.

In the precautionary measure, the magistrate determined the blocking of the domain and ordered those responsible to immediately cease the offering, promise, or distribution of tokens or any other economic advantage linked to publications related to the project or with the candidacy identified by the number 22. It also ordered the preservation of records on social networks and the identification of those responsible on the involved platforms.

The minister indicated that the elements presented suggest that the project goes beyond a simple expression of support from sympathizers. According to her assessment, it is an organized scheme that offers an economic benefit in exchange for disseminating electoral content, something that Brazilian law prohibits.

Flávio Bolsonaro's campaign informed Agência Brasil, the national public news agency of the South American country, that it is unaware of the authorship of the site. It also denied having hired profiles for its dissemination and announced that it would take legal action in electoral, civil, and criminal spheres. The B22 site itself claimed that it had no ties to any politician, party, or campaign.

The most visible dissemination of the project came through the Instagram account Hypers Kids Africa, which has nearly 13 million followers and showcases videos of talented children and youth from Uganda. The profile claimed to have received 120 million B22 tokens and posted a video mentioning Flávio Bolsonaro.

After the criticism, the group removed that material and published an apology video explaining that no one paid them to make that post and that they were only looking to promote their own token (HKA) to finish building a house. According to BBC News Brasil, Hypers Kids Africa contacted them via email and stated that they would return the 120 million tokens. The organization HypersKidsAfrica seeks to dissociate itself from Bolsonaro's memecoin. Source: Hyperskidsafrica -- Instagram

The case adds to a recent pattern of memecoins related to political figures, such as those linked to Donald Trump or the LIBRA token, promoted by Javier Milei. CriptoNoticias, in an article published on October 5, states that, in Brazil, the regulatory framework for crypto assets has existed since 2022, but its full application is still pending, and neither Bolsonaro nor Lula have focused the campaign debate on the sector. The TSE's measure highlights the legal limits of such initiatives during the electoral period.

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