The WallStreetBets (WSB) token appeared on CoinMarketCap, ranking zero ahead of BTC in terms of capitalization. This joke is related to Reddit users' "revenge" against institutional traders.
The service CoinMarketCap published a warning on the page about WSB that in fact such an asset does not exist. This means that bitcoin is still the leader of the cryptocurrency market. The fictitious token is valued at $483 and has a capitalization of $24.8 billion. There are 51,442,000 WSBs in circulation, and WSB allegedly has a daily trading volume of $100 million.
These figures did not emerge from nothing. Most likely, they refer to the performance of GameStop, an American retailer of game consoles and computer games. Its shares were the subject of a dispute between hedge funds, which opened downward positions, and thousands of users of the subreddit WallStreetBets, who began a massive buying spree to "punish" market manipulators.
The subreddit participants managed to raise the price of GME more than fivefold. The rise in the stock caused hedge fund Melvin Capital to lose billions of dollars on short positions. After that, Robinhood, a U.S. retail equity and crypto-asset trading platform, suspended purchases of GME stock, allegedly to "control market manipulation." Broker Ameritrade suspended trading in those stocks for a similar reason.
This caused widespread outrage: retail investors are prohibited from buying stocks, while hedge funds are free to trade them as they see fit. The social network Facebook deleted the official Robinhood trading community group. U.S. politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that such actions were unacceptable, and Congressman Paul Gosar asked the U.S. Attorney General to investigate. Robinhood is also being sued for trying to manipulate the smooth functioning of the financial market. The lawsuit has received widespread public support.
The WSB token was created and posted on CoinMarketCap in support of the WallStreetBets community making headlines around the world. The token now takes its place alongside bitcoin, sharing with it free market principles and the right to fully own assets that should not be managed by hedge funds and other exchange-traded "sharks."
On April 1, 2020, in the midst of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Coimarketcap already tried to pull a similar "toilet paper token" prank. However, it did not find support in the community.