Ex-Football Star Ronaldinho's Token Dips 18% on Debut Amid Insider Trading Allegations

Football legend Ronaldinho Gaúcho’s new official token debuted to a rocky start Sunday, amid concerns around “early snipers” and a “serious security risk.”

Launched Sunday exclusively on the BNB chain, Ronaldinho Coin (STAR10) made its debut to fanfare, promising the footballer’s massive global following access to “exclusive experiences, real benefits, signed collectibles, and an AI Agent.”

The enthusiasm quickly soured, as the retired footballer’s token saw significant volatility on its launch, dropping by over 25% from its peak at $0.387 to its current price of $0.289, per data from CoinGecko.

Its rocky launch trajectory mirrors that of other high profile tokens, such as the Argentine President Javier Milei-endorsed LIBRA token.

The token’s distribution allocates 20% of the total supply to Ronaldinho—significantly higher than typical allocations in most crypto projects. For most projects, the founder’s share generally hovers around 5-10%.

One blockchain analytics firm, Onchainlens, flagged  that one wallet profited nearly $5 million after spending just $29,247 to buy tokens, while crypto copy-trading platform lmk.fun highlighted that the token launch was “filled with ‘early snipers’.”

GoPlus Security, a Web3 security platform, tweeted a security alert after discovering a critical vulnerability, revealing that STAR10’s owner could burn any holder's tokens at will since ownership had not been renounced.

The alert led to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (“CZ”), warning traders to “Please beware!”

Ronaldinho responded to CZ’s tweet, saying that, “Ownership was not renounced? Now it is! Tokens cannot be destroyed without warning,” which was subsequently confirmed by GoPlus.

Ronaldinho’s crypto history

Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho has been linked to a number of crypto ventures.

The footballer launched his first token, RON, on the P00LS platform in 2022, but the project failed to generate significant traction. That same year, he promoted the World Cup Inu token—a meme coin launched ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Like many celebrity-backed crypto projects, the token saw an initial surge in value, followed by a dramatic crash.

In 2023, he appeared in court to deny any involvement in the “18kRonaldinho” crypto pyramid scheme, claiming that his likeness had been used without his consent. The scheme promised daily returns of 2% but ultimately collapsed, leading to a $61 million lawsuit.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.