January 28 News, an investigation involving the US government seizing crypto assets has once again brought the risks of “Meme Coins” to the forefront. Blockchain investigators discovered a wallet suspected of being linked to stolen assets controlled by the US government, which recently issued a Meme coin called John Daghita (LICK) on the Solana chain. However, the token’s value rapidly plummeted after launch, sparking strong market skepticism.
On-chain data shows that LICK was created on the Pump.fun platform, and its price dropped by approximately 97% on the first day of trading. The token’s market cap briefly surged to around $915,000 before quickly falling below $25,000. Further investigation revealed that prior to the price surge, the deployment address had made multiple early acquisitions when the overall market cap was still very low.
Noted on-chain investigator ZachXBT pointed out that the wallet associated with John Daghita holds tens of millions of dollars in crypto assets, which may originate from funds seized by the US government between 2024 and 2025. The US Marshals Service later confirmed that the matter is under investigation but did not disclose further details.
According to ZachXBT, John Daghita is alleged to be the son of Dean Daghita, President of Command Services & Support (CMDSS), and is suspected of accessing and using a wallet address managed by the US government without authorization. These allegations are still under verification.
Data from the blockchain visualization platform Bubblemaps further heightens market concerns. The data shows that approximately 40% of the total token supply of LICK was concentrated in a single related address at the time of issuance. Such a highly centralized distribution structure is often seen as a high-risk signal in meme coin projects, which can easily trigger coordinated sell-offs or rapid “exit scams.”
Bubblemaps’ analysis indicates that high token concentration often means that internal addresses have decisive influence over the price. Once liquidity is drained, ordinary participants face significant losses. Similar incidents have occurred before, such as in March 2025, when a meme coin called WOLF plummeted 99% within hours, with a market cap evaporating over $40 million.
The rapid collapse of LICK once again reminds the market that, in an environment with low barriers to issuance, the token distribution structure and wallet backgrounds are often more worth cautioning against than the concept narrative itself.
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