Nearly $40 million market cap plummets to $3 million in 1 minute—was SHAR hit by a "conspiracy group" dumping the token?
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Nearly $40 million market cap plummets to $3 million in 1 minute—was SHAR hit by a "conspiracy group" dumping the token?
PVP is acceptable, but RUG is absolutely intolerable.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: Asher, Odaily Planet Daily
Last night, SHAR, a Solana-based Meme project, surged to nearly $0.06 shortly after launch, briefly reaching a market cap of around $40 million. Subsequently, on-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed that the project involved a "cartel" and KOL manipulation. According to leaked documents, the project claimed to have enlisted 50 "Tier-1" KOLs.
ZachXBT: Solana Meme Project SHAR Linked to Cartel and KOL Manipulation
Upon release of this news, most Meme communities were initially unfazed by the FUD. Some even viewed such high-profile backing as credible, helping push the market cap rapidly up to $50 million.
Fueled by FOMO, SHAR’s market cap briefly approached $60 million. However, by 2 a.m., its value had plummeted nearly 50%, dropping to $24 million. After a wave of buying brought it back up to $43 million, it sharply declined again at 5 a.m.—crashing from $40 million down to just $3 million. It currently holds a market cap of $3.5 million.
SHAR Price Movement
Market Cap Crashed from $40 Million to $3 Million—Who Dumped?
On-chain data shows that the address CHj3vHyMhF6DF3VkwhzgK833o7uvsN7CrPVyUdmbFo5E aggregated 500 million SHAR tokens from over 100 addresses in under two minutes, then sold them all in a single transaction—profiting nearly 20,000 SOL, worth over $3 million. This massive sell-off drained SHAR’s liquidity pool entirely, causing its market cap to collapse from nearly $40 million to just $3 million.
Meanwhile, Bubblemaps monitoring indicates that 60% of SHAR tokens were previously consolidated and redistributed across more than 100 addresses. This suggests the project team manipulated market perception by transferring tokens between wallets to create an illusion of active trading and attract retail investors.
Bubblemaps Data
Responses from KOLs After ZachXBT's Exposure
After on-chain sleuth ZachXBT exposed the so-called "cartel" behind SHAR, some named KOLs responded immediately:
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0xSun: "Unbelievable. I bought a couple of times before going to bed, and now it’s straight-up rug-pulled. I did partner with this project, but my reason for doing so was that after reviewing the materials, I thought it seemed legitimate and had profit potential—not just for promotional fees."
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joji: "I never announced anything about SHAR. The team added me without contacting me, and I’ve already asked them to remove my name."
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Wizard Of SoHo: "Today I messaged four KOLs listed and told them not to promote this project because they’re a scam team."
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PattyIce: "I never mentioned SHAR in any of my tweets."
In response to ZachXBT’s allegations implicating certain KOLs in SHAR’s promotion, some denied being part of the alleged "cartel," while others denied involvement in promotional activities altogether.
Community Sentiment
The SHAR incident has sparked mixed reactions within the community regarding the existence of "cartels" behind Meme coins:
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"When you see a Meme project spike instantly in volume, who cares if it’s a cartel? If you missed the early entry, just move to the next one—better to miss out than get rekt and rage online."
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"These KOLs always include disclaimers. So this won’t stop them from being worshipped like gods."
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"I’m not FUDing these kinds of projects. At least they can actually pump the price. Even if you’re not part of the cartel, early participants still have a chance to profit—way better than current VC tokens that dump immediately at listing."
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......
At the same time, because the "cartel address" completely drained SHAR’s liquidity pool in seconds, many retail investors holding at peak prices saw their funds wiped out instantly. Anger quickly spread across the community, with some forming compensation groups demanding restitution:
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"PvP is acceptable, but rugs are unforgivable."
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"Though chances of reimbursement are slim, we really want to take action against this team."
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"The person controlling the private keys is Russian. They contacted some exchanges for listings but are now unreachable."
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"While the team told KOLs they’d compensate, that’s unlikely. Retailers seeking compensation from KOLs is also unrealistic. The best current option is to engage with CLS."
Some community members summarized common traits of Meme projects launched by such "cartels":
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Launched late at night or even in the early morning hours;
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See a sudden surge of large individual trades, achieving over $100 million in trading volume within hours;
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Ride on trending themes or hot topics;
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Social media flooded with "get rich quick" narratives.
Opportunities will always exist. Therefore, when facing Meme projects with explosive trading volumes and viral social buzz, either enter when no one is paying attention—or invest only what you can afford to lose when everyone else is rushing in. Only then can you survive in this market.
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