Russian freestyle wrestler Khamzat Chimaev is embroiled in controversy as the associated token, SMASH, plunges 94% amid allegations of insider trading. Concerns arose after blockchain analyst ZachXBT discovered that nearly 80% of the Solana-based memecoin’s supply was quietly bought by insiders linked to the SMASH team, prompting accusations of fraud against Chimaev, who had promoted the token.
In a July 4 thread, blockchain analyst ZachXBT disclosed that timing analysis indicated over 70% of wallets belonging to insiders and the SMASH development team were directly connected, having received funding from the same Ethereum address. According to ZachXBT’s findings, funds in insiders’ wallets originated from centralized trading platforms like Binance and SideShift.
ZachXBT criticized Khamzat Chimaev’s team for what he perceived as incompetence, noting the direct link between team and insider wallets responsible for purchasing over 78% of the token’s supply. He questioned why they would tarnish their reputation with meme coin scams.
Chimaev has extensively promoted the SMASH token across multiple posts on X and Telegram, but has not addressed the recent scam accusations publicly. SMASH token has plummeted over 90% to $0.0003460, according to DEXScreener.
The Chechen-born fighter has a history of endorsing various digital assets on social media. In April 2023, he announced on X that he had become an ambassador for CAIZcoin, described as an “Islamic compliant cryptocurrency” with purported partnerships including CertiK, Fireblocks, Elliptic, and Ledger, among others, as per the project’s website.
In response to inquiries from crypto.news, a spokesperson from Elliptic stated they have no partnership or affiliation with CAIZcoin. Crypto.news is awaiting responses from other mentioned firms regarding their partnership status and will update the article accordingly.
