Soccer Star Ronaldinho Quenches Thirst, Follows Messi in Backing Water Coin: Potential Pump-and-Dump on the Horizon?

Ronaldinho Joins Messi in Pumping WATER, Thirsty Much?

Ronaldinho Gaúcho, the retired Brazilian soccer icon, has joined the ranks of sports celebrities promoting the Solana-based Water Coin (WATER) on Instagram, following a similar endorsement by Lionel Messi in his Instagram stories the previous day.

On 9 July, Ronaldinho shared an Instagram story with his 76.6 million followers, featuring an image of himself alongside Water Coin's mascot, which tagged the token's Instagram account.

Following Ronaldinho's mention, WATER surged nearly 40% to $0.0012 within an hour but soon fell below its pre-endorsement price.

Currently trading at $0.000849, WATER has declined over 70% from its all-time high (ATH) on 26 June and 8.4% in the past 24 hours.

Previously, the token soared over 55% after Messi's endorsement, reaching $0.0009406 at the time of the related article's publication.

No Immediate Signs of Foul Play

The promotion of a relatively minor Solana meme coin, Water Coin (WATER), by two sporting legends with a combined Instagram following of over 580 million has captured attention and sparked curiosity among even the most seasoned crypto enthusiasts.

Unlike previous celebrity-endorsed meme coins, such as Iggy Azalea's MOTHER or the Andrew Tate-backed Daddy Tate coin, these athletes did not promote a token specifically linked to their personal brands.

There is no indication that the accounts of Messi and Ronaldinho were hacked or compromised.

Messi's Instagram Stories post, shared on Monday, remained visible for the full 24 hours, alongside his other content, and the retired Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho followed suit with a similar promotion on Tuesday.

Recent weeks have seen celebrity social media accounts hacked to endorse meme coins, often as part of pump-and-dump schemes.

However, in this case, the posts were not hastily removed, suggesting no immediate signs of foul play.

Both Messi and Ronaldinho have previously ventured into the crypto space.

Messi is a brand ambassador for the fan token platform Socios and the NFT fantasy soccer game Sorare, while Ronaldinho has backed a project called Lingo.

Despite the star power behind it, WATER has maintained a steady, albeit slowly declining, trading price, falling 6% in the last 24 hours.

The coin's trajectory may change with future endorsements from other celebrities.

Why is Water Coin Only Getting Soccer Stars to Endorse?

Water Coin purportedly aims to heighten awareness for water-related concerns, including initiatives that combat deforestation and facilitate water distribution in Africa, as stated on its website.

However, the details provided are scant.

The project's roadmap delineates its strategy to forge partnerships with celebrities before transitioning into a charity-oriented environmental token to realise its objectives, which is reflected in the endorsements by Messi and Ronaldinho.

The choice to exclusively engage soccer stars for the promotion of WATER is perplexing, as it targets a niche market.

The crypto community is also speculating as to who will be next.

This raises questions about the rationale behind using soccer icons for marketing purposes and which icon, whether from soccer or a broader spectrum, might next be involved in boosting the profile of Water Coin.

In addition, out of so many things to endorse, why water?

What is so meme about water, as one X user puts it.

Red Flag in the Making: Pump-and-Dump on the Horizon?

The WATER Foundation reportedly allocated only 5% of the 88.88 billion WATER tokens to itself, but YouTuber Ajay Kashyap was among industry critics who raised concerns about WATER being a potential pump-and-dump scheme.

The anonymous on-chain investigator WazzCrypto pointed out that 13 wallets had collectively sold off tokens worth $15 million over a few days.

Crypto commentator Ponga added:

“Is this real or another pump and dump shit. Stay cautious boys.”

However, market-making hedge fund Gotbit, which was involved in the launch of BEER, claimed that the sell-off was a "coordinated attack" orchestrated by a group of whales.

Which celebrity, or soccer legend, will be next in line to quench their thirst with WATER?