As a part of her newest endeavor in crypto, Iggy Azalea is making an attempt to stop celebrities from profiting on Solana-based tokens on the expense of their followers.
The Australian rapper, who created a meme coin final yr, is becoming a member of Thrust as artistic director and strategic associate, in response to a press launch shared with Decrypt. The platform, which seeks to eradicate so-called pump-and-dump tasks, was unveiled on Wednesday.
Thrust is making an attempt to reshape how tokens tied to celebrities are broadly perceived, with an emphasis on participation, versus hypothesis. In that sense, Thrust says it provides customers tradition cash, versus run-of-the-mill meme cash.
Most tokens promoted by celebrities are short-lived, with costs crashing as shortly as they rise, however Thrust’s creators attribute that dynamic to insider allocations and bonding-curve mechanics on token launchpads like Pump.enjoyable which may be troublesome for customers to know.
As a part of her function at Thrust, Azalea will form how “artists, celebrities, and creators enter the [crypto] area in a extra sustainable and accountable means,” the press launch states. She’s additionally an fairness holder within the firm, she instructed Decrypt.
“It’s not simply that I aesthetically determine what issues appear like for Thrust as an organization, however I’m a big a part of the ideas once we’re white-gloving these celebrities onboard,” she stated. “I assume it’s virtually like being a godmother.”
Thrust says the launch of every tradition coin is vetted, tied to legally binding contracts, and structured in a solution to “defend each creators and followers.” These options are designed to handle what Thrust describes as “systemic issues which have plagued the area.”
Azalea’s meme coin, MOTHER, has outlasted a wave of tokens promoted by celebrities final yr, together with these hooked up to icons like Caitlyn Jenner, Jason Derulo, and Cardi B. Azalea’s token is anticipated emigrate to Thrust’s platform by the top of the yr.
Not way back, Azalea was leaning into a web-based on line casino that’s constructed round her MOTHER token, however she finally realized that it “can’t onboard different folks into this fucking chaos,” whereas creating worth to “pay for issues, throw occasions, [and] do stuff.”
As Thrust’s first tradition coin, the corporate is tapping a streamer named N3on, who has round 440,000 on the streaming web site Kick. His hottest video is a 30-second certainly one of him taking part in the sport Tornado with a scantily clad companion.
Azalea instructed Decrypt that Thrust expects actress Megan Fox to supply a token in December, which can have its personal reside occasion, amongst others within the firm’s pipeline.
“We’re popping out the gate onerous,” she stated. “They’re signed. These items are in movement. The dates are booked, and it’s occurring.”
Haliey Welch, higher recognized on-line because the lady behind “Hawk Tuah,” acquired backlash in December that compelled her to quickly step away from social media. The Tennessee native’s meme coin HAWK rocketed to a market cap of $490 million earlier than collapsing 93% in worth inside minutes.
Azalea isn’t any stranger to crypto-fueled controversy, herself. Earlier than MOTHER debuted, a crypto promoter tied to Jenner’s meme coin collected $380,000 value of presale funds and issued a token that was finally unaffiliated with the musician.
Thrust was co-founded by Jake Antifaev, a Canada-based entrepreneur, who beforehand labored on a hashish startup specializing in e-commerce. In a press release, he famous that well-intentioned creators have been burned by “shady characters” when providing celebrity-linked tokens earlier than.
“Superstar cash bought a nasty repute as a result of they had been by no means constructed on legitimacy or accountability,” he stated. Anybody might launch one, and followers had been left guessing what was actual.”
