An X account claiming to be Saxon James Musk, the son of Elon Musk, launched a memecoin named MAX on the Solana blockchain. The token reached a peak market capitalization of approximately $13 million within 48 hours of its debut. The project centered on a dog named Max, which the account alleged belonged to the Musk family, though this claim remains unverified.
The token's value plummeted by 86% after Elon Musk unfollowed the account. Following the crash, the account deleted its promotional content, including a video encouraging users to purchase the asset. On-chain analysis revealed that 47 wallets, organized into eight clusters, held about 16.8% of the total supply, with 26 of these wallets purchasing the token within the first two minutes of trading.
Market participants involved in the scheme reportedly extracted $2 million in profits before the price collapse. Individual traders reported losses reaching up to $50,000 each. The incident highlights common risks in the memecoin market, including the use of unverified celebrity associations and the concentration of token supply among early, coordinated holders.
