Jason Derulo’s Meme Coin Drama: Scam or Strategy?

Jason Derulo is the latest celebrity to launch a meme coin on Solana, only to claim he was scammed by the infamous celebrity coin promoter, Sahil Arora. However, Arora insists it was all part of the plan.

On Sunday, the renowned R&B singer announced the launch of JASON, a meme coin via Pump.fun. Less than seven hours later, Derulo took to Twitter, accusing Arora and vowing to “send this shit to the moon.”

Much like previous cases, Arora claims the drama was orchestrated. “I orchestrated it lol,” Arora told. When asked why Derulo was outing him, Arora replied, “Part of the script.” He hinted at a prearranged plan for Derulo to call him out as part of the promotional strategy.

This isn’t the first time a celebrity has accused Arora of wrongdoing. Last month, Arora launched a token for Caitlyn Jenner, who later claimed Arora owed her “lots of money.” Similarly, a token supposedly endorsed by rapper Iggy Azalea turned out to be a false claim, as Jenner revealed that her manager had warned Azalea’s team against working with Arora.

More recently, rapper Lil Pump launched a token, then deleted the promotion tweet, alleging his social media manager had gone rogue after Arora offered $39,000.

On Sunday, Arora hinted at Derulo’s involvement by posting a Derulo song title. Twelve hours later, the token was created, and five hours after that, Derulo promoted it on Twitter. In the subsequent five minutes, JASON surged 1,515%, reaching a market cap of $1.85 million before plummeting to $200,000. Some Crypto Twitter traders accused Derulo of rugging the project.

Derulo responded sarcastically on Twitter, “Damn, Sahil got me.” He claimed he was now “Ridin’ Solo,” referencing his early hit, and that his new goal was to send the token “to the moon.” This declaration caused the token to spike 736%, reaching a market cap of $5 million in under two hours.

Arora explained, “Jason has a percentage of [the] supply with him and [has] direct interest to pump this, he’s looking to do an Iggy on this one,” referencing the relative success of Azalea’s token.

This drama unfolds against a backdrop of a declining broader crypto market. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana have all fallen in the past 24 hours, coinciding with the defunct Japanese Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox’s promise to finally repay creditors a decade after losing their funds.

Despite the market turbulence, JASON briefly dipped but has since surged to a new all-time high of about $0.011, pushing its market cap over $10 million.