Don’t be fooled by the success of Dogecoin and Shiba Inu: 76% of X (Twitter) influencers promote Dead Meme coins, study reveals

A new report has revealed a surprising trend in the cryptocurrency market: 76% of influencers on X (formerly Twitter (meme coin promotion endorses tokens that eventually lose almost all their value.

What happened: THE studyby CoinWireanalyzed 1,567 meme coins promoted by 377 influencers, revealing that two out of three tokens they promoted are now classified as “dead.”

The report’s findings are particularly concerning for retail investors attracted by the hype surrounding popular coins like Dogecoin DOGE/USD And Shiba Inu SHIB/USD.

Although established tokens such as DOGE and SHIB have maintained significant market presence and liquidity, many promoted meme coins fail to replicate this success.

Instead, their value is on a rapid downward trend, with 86% of them losing 90% of their value within three months of the promotion.

Even the lure of potential 10x returns – often the centerpiece of influencer hype – has proven elusive, with only 3% of promoted tokens achieving such gains.

The largest influencers, those with more than 200,000 followers, performed worse, producing 89% negative returns on promoted tokens in three months, compared to smaller influencers who sometimes achieved positive results.

“Influencers benefit financially from these promotions, with average earnings of $399 per tweet,” the report states. “However, data shows that these mentions often result in significant losses for their followers.”

Read also: Drug cartels use Tether and Bitcoin to launder millions, court documents reveal

Why it’s important: Speaking with Benzinga, Eric ChenCEO and co-founder of Injection laboratories said that crypto industry influencers represent a wide range of individuals and strategies.

While some may continue their momentum by promoting volatile or speculative tokens, others focus on more nuanced qualitative information, Chen said.

He cautioned against oversimplifying the role of influencers, noting that token performance depends on a variety of factors, including market sentiment, retail investor activity, and the decisions of larger players like whales.

“While there are undoubtedly some bad actors in this industry, it is unfair to generalize the actions of a few as being representative of the entire group. The direction of the market is determined by a wide range of participants , and not just by influencers,” Chen added.

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