Blockchain investigator Zachary Wolk, better known as ZachXBT, has taken aim at crypto influencer Zion “Ansem” Thomas, accusing him of orchestrating a series of memecoin pump-and-dump schemes.
On Oct. 5, the two engaged in a fiery debate on X with Wolk alleging that Thomas has been heavily promoting low-cap Solana (SOL) memecoins to his followers for personal gain.
The confrontation kicked off when Wolk referenced Thomas during a discussion about memecoin enthusiast Murad Mahmudov’s “Memecoin Supercycle” speech at Token 2049 last month.
Wolk claimed that instead of providing genuine market insights, Thomas was merely hyping coins for quick profit. Mahmudov, formerly the chief information officer of the now-defunct crypto hedge fund Adaptive Capital, has become a prominent figure in the memecoin community, often sharing his top picks and advocating for their place in the market.
Wolk didn’t hold back, asserting that if someone promotes new low-cap memecoins to their followers every few days, it’s a clear sign they lack real market expertise and are simply exploiting their audience.
Thomas, who boasts over 507,000 followers on X, defended himself:
Idk how you do not see issue with having 500K+ followers and rotating micro cap coins shills every few days when you know very well people blindly buy off your posts impacting the price.”
Wolk argued that Thomas’s large platform gives him the power to significantly influence small-cap tokens, putting his followers at risk as they chase memecoin pumps that often crash.
Thomas fired back, citing his promotion of Dogwifhat (WIF) when it had a market cap of $100,000, which later skyrocketed to a $4.8 billion peak in March, as a better move than pushing utility tokens like Chainlink (LINK), which has plummeted 90% against Bitcoin this year.
But Wolk remained unrelenting, accusing Thomas of shilling “hundreds” of low-cap coins, including BODEN, HOBBES, ZEUS, and WYNN, along with celebrity-backed tokens such as those endorsed by Jason Derulo and Davido.
Despite Thomas’s defense that these memecoins have captured the majority of retail interest in crypto, the numbers tell a grim story.
For instance, BODEN, themed around President Joe Biden, has plunged nearly 99% since its all-time high in April. Other coins like HOBBES, ZEUS, and WYNN have also lost about 98% of their peak values.
Read More: FCC Hits Telecom With $1M Fine For Biden Deepfake Scam
The debate over memecoins continues, with some claiming these tokens offer better returns than utility coins, while others argue they’re exploitative, benefiting early investors at the expense of retail traders who lose out when the hype fades.
