ZachXBT accuses crypto influencer Ansem of promoting memecoin ‘pump and dumps’.

Blockchain sleuth Zachary Wolk – known online as ZachXBT – has accused crypto influencer Zion “Ansem” Thomas of facilitating a “pump and dump” of the memecoin string.

In a heated exchange on X on October 5, Wolk and Thomas Wolk went back and forth over Thomas's role in Schilling's alleged “low-level” Solana (SOL) memecoins.

Wolk quoted Thomas when discussing memecoin bull Murad Mahmudov's “Memecoin Supercycle” speech at Token 2049 last month, accusing him of promoting coins to his followers instead of having a legitimate “edge” in the market.

Mahmudov was the CIO of Adaptive Capital, a crypto hedge fund that collapsed in March 2020 amid the broader market crash. Since then, he has built a large following on X by advocating the role of memecoins in crypto and posting a list of his top memecoin picks.

If you start introducing new low cap memcoins every few days as a big account to your followers. [because] You have no edge and you have to use your followers instead,” Wolk said, adding that Thomas was complicit in this behavior.

Thomas asked Wolk why “talking about lowcaps” – referring to memecoins with small market capitalization – is considered “cheating”.

Wolk Thomas – who has more than 507,000 X followers – has the potential to influence the tokens at small prices, which could cause many of his followers to lose money chasing memecoin pumps.

Thomas responded by calling DogwhipHat (WIF) to his followers that it was “better” than launching a utility-based token like Chainlink at a $100,000 market cap – later valued at $4.8 billion in March. LINK) which is down 90% year-to-date on Bitcoin (BTC).

Wolk hit back and accused Thomas Schilling of “hundreds” of low-cap coins, Boden, Hobbs, Zeus and YNN, as well as several popular memecoins, including pop stars Jason Derulo and Davido.

“The ‘minimum dump' you're talking about has dominated 90% of retail thinking in crypto over the last year,” Thomas replied. “Whether you like it or not, that's it. [people] They want to trade.”

BODEN, President Joe Biden's theme memecoin, is down nearly 99% from its April all-time high, while the likes of HOBBES, ZEUS and WYNN are all down 98% from their all-time highs.

RELATED: ‘Every meme is a coin toss in the works' – Mark Cuban

Memecoins have quickly become one of the hottest topics in crypto over the past year.

Memecoin advocates say that structural valueless tokens, which include the likes of Dogecoin (DOGE), Pepe (PEPE), and WIF, are better investments than utility tokens because of their relatively large returns so far this cycle.

Critics say memecoins are essentially “efficient,” allowing insiders and early investors to create large sums of money from complex retail participants and then disappear with the profits.

Magazine: Memecoins: Betraying Crypto Ideas… Or Its True Purpose?