BlackRock’s publicly known wallet contains a relatively new meme token, SPX6900 (SPX). The asset, which got a boost from crypto influencer Murad Mahmudov, charted a series of all-time highs.
BlackRock turned out to be a holder of SPX6900, the irreverent meme token that aims to ‘flip’ Wall Street. The SPX token is also the fourth-largest holding of BlackRock, after BTC, ETH and USDC.
The publicly known wallet of BlackRock, listed by Arkham, is linked to the company’s ETF reserves, as well as side activities. The SPX in the wallet is valued at around $72,000, not even play money for the scale of BlackRock. Just one of Murad Mahmudov’s wallets contains about 10X the SPX, offering a boost by holding. With the BlackRock transaction, SPX showed it could use any tool to boost its visibility.
The wallet also has a small share of MOG, another one of Mahmudov’s top recommendations, which rallied in the past few days.
Meme tokens use BlackRock as an advertisement wall
Most probably, BlackRock did not buy SPX directly. The whole token balance was transferred at once in July 2024. At that time, SPX was still in its early stages, and did not receive any hype, trading at $0.014. SPX has already outperformed, and some recent buyers are wary of becoming exit liquidity for earlier whales and smart traders.
Meme tokens in BlackRock’s wallet follow a similar pattern of a one-off allocation and no signs of trading or divesting. Meme token projects often send their assets to high-visibility addresses. As the price rises, the tokens go up the charts and their ticker gets more views. BlackRock also has no investments in blue-chip altcoins or any of the VC-backed tokens, instead only carrying random meme token deposits.
BlackRock does not follow the practice of Vitalik Buterin, who liquidates all meme token allocations. Sending meme tokens to a high-profile wallet also creates a trail of legitimacy, making the assets differentiated from copycats.
In the past, BlackRock wallets have also been used to popularize Ordinals or NFT collections. The BlackRock ETF remains the biggest BTC holder, compensating for the selling from Grayscale.
SPX6900 reached price peak close to $1
SPX is on an expansion spree, following the model of overhyped meme tokens. After a series of promotions from influencer Murad Mahmudov, SPX rallied to an all-time high of $0.95, before sinking to $0.84.
The hype around SPX6900 relies on irrational holding behaviors, similar to the meme stock craze and the GameStop short squeeze. But some SPX holders are not that irrational and have no qualms about cashing out near the top.
Several wallets sold SPX, including the #1 top owner. The holders still own some of the balance and can continue to ride SPX through new rallies. SPX is currently distributed among Ethereum, Solana, and Base versions, each with slightly different ownership structures and dynamics. Ethereum contains some of the biggest whale wallets, but Base is used for on-chain access and may onboard more retail users.
Yet the strongest growth factor for SPX is being a ‘Murad meme token’, a selection among existing memes that are already high-visibility, as well as newly promoted assets. The tokens picked aim to create a culture of holding, in order to push to a higher market valuation.
SPX aims to trigger the meme super cycle, while Murad claims meme tokens are more aligned with Bitcoin (BTC) compared to older altcoins.
Meme tokens as a whole have responded well to the hype, expanding to a total market cap above $52B. The effect of Murad is felt by the leading memes, including DOGE and SHIB. The list of tokens with a valuation above $1B is also expanding, and Mogcoin (MOG) is the next candidate with a capitalization close to $900M.
The recent meme coin cycle has a different aim – to recreate the cult status of Bitcoin, while keeping as much value as possible in the hands of meme token investors. The new batch of meme tokens also aim to capture a fresh wave of retail buyers, after the IDO and airdrop seasons that mostly targeted crypto insiders and required elaborate tasks and DeFi engagement.