The deaths of two legendary stars — wrestler Hulk Hogan and musician Ozzy Osbourne — have triggered a true boom in meme coins named in their honor. Traders are not wasting time even in moments of grief.
Terry Bollea, known by the nickname Hulk Hogan, passed away in the hospital on Thursday at the age of 71. Medical personnel arrived at his home in response to a call about a possible heart failure. Just a few days earlier, on Tuesday, 76-year-old Ozzy Osbourne — the unchanging leader of Black Sabbath and one of the founders of heavy metal — had also passed away.
Meme coins are soaring on the wave of news.
While fans mourn the loss of their idols, crypto traders are speculating in their memory. The Hulkmanaia (HULK) token based on #Wrapped #Ethereum skyrocketed by an astonishing 122,000% to $0.001335. According to DEXTools, this token was created almost immediately after the news of Hulk's death was published.
The 'Ozzy coins' are not falling behind either. The Mad Man (OZZY) token has increased by 16,800% to $0.003851, reaching a market capitalization of $3.85 million. The death of the 'Prince of Darkness' has also spurred demand for his official CryptoBatz collection — fans are mass buying digital artifacts.
An important detail: none of the new tokens are related to the stars' heirs. Moreover, many of them disappear as quickly as they appear — reminiscent of the popular 'rug pull' scheme (a type of fraud where the creators of a project suddenly and swiftly disappear with investors' money).
The existing meme coin HULKAMANIA (HULK) on the #solana blockchain, launched back in June last year, has also risen on the sad news. In one day, it increased by 2,000%, trading at $0.0006146 with a capitalization of over $500,000.
However, it is still far from its historical peak of $18.8 million. The maximum was reached after Hogan's X-account promoted the token. The posts were later deleted, and the wrestler himself stated that he had no relation to them.
The death of celebrities is a gold mine for speculators.
Such practices have long become the norm in the world of meme coins. After the death of former NFL player O.J. Simpson in April 2024, tokens bearing his name and catchphrases emerged. The passing of former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in November 2023 also spawned a wave of questionable meme coins.
While traders are profiting from tragedies, true fans mourn the departed legends. Hogan is called the greatest wrestler of all time, while Osbourne is regarded as the one and only rock god.
