Conor McGregor’s Memecoin Flops as Interest in Celebrity Tokens Wanes

Popular MMA fighter Connor McGregor’s memecoin failed to launch after falling well short of its fundraising goal, showcasing traders’ lack of interest in celebrity coins in the wake of the TRUMP and LIBRA debacles.

The REAL memecoin, created and backed by Conor McGregor and the Real World Gaming decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), sought to raise a minimum of $1 million to launch during its 28-hour presale period but was unable to hit that target, bringing in just $392,315.

McGregor and Real World Gaming had intended to raise $3.6 million from the presale, but it fell short by almost 90%.

Real World Gaming addressed the situation in an Apr. 6 X post claiming this is not the end of the story, hinting at a possible comeback. It also promised to return all the bids in full, but no further information was disclosed.

The celebrity memecoin meta may truly be dead and buried if this weekend's events are to be taken at face value. However, turbulent market conditions are also likely to blame.

“The success of a memecoin launch depends on a number of things: how good the marketing has been, the strength of the narrative at that point in time, and general market sentiment. We're certainly in a heavily risk-off environment, which isn't typically the time to be buying memecoins,” Chris Chung, founder of Solana-based swap platform Titan, told The Defiant.

“But this doesn't mean all celebrity meme projects will fail - those that are launched at a better time with strong marketing efforts behind them will still be able to succeed, as long as the narrative behind them is strong enough to capture the attention of investors," he added.

The failed launch comes after the memecoin sector has lost over $70 billion in market capitalization since TRUMP launched on Jan.17.