Getting To Know The Sahil Arora, A Controversial Figure Because Of The Meme Coin Project

Sahil Arora, a controversial figure due to the meme coin project (Photo; Doc. LatesLY)

JAKARTA - In the crypto world, Sahil Arora's name emerged as one of the most talked about figures. Arora, an Indian businessman who now lives in Dubai, has managed to attract public attention with meme coin projects involving top celebrities. According to a blockchain investigation report by ZachXBT, Arora managed to pocket about 3 million US Dollars (Rp47 billion) this year. This figure is much different from the initial estimate of 30 million US Dollars (Rp470 billion) by the Bubblemaps blockchain data platform. However, who is actually Sahil Aora and how can he achieve great profits from these controversial projects?

Sahil Arora is known for his ability to invite celebrities such as Floyd Mayweather, Caitlyn Jenner, and Iggy Azalea to engage in crypto projects that he is working on. His digital career began in 2017 with the launch of the Vuzelaa Group in India, which aims to install Bitcoin ATMs in various parts of the world. However, the crypto projects he founded between 2020 and 2023, such as the ZelaaPayAE and the ZelaaNFT, did not last long. Despite this, Arora still reaped significant profits from this initiative, despite many of its projects that failed.

The peak of Arora's strategy was seen in the launch of Pump.fun, a platform that became a favorite for retail investors to create and trade meme coins. Aora used her influence on Instagram to attract celebrities to promote tokens that she made in exchange for huge fees. One of the famous is her offer to Jason Derulo of 200,000 US Dollars (Rp3.1 billion) to promote a token. However, behind the spurious promotion, there are tactics that harm many of these celebrity followers. After the token was promoted, Arora often sold all of its holdings, leaving retail investors with huge losses.

Despite thousands of fans experiencing financial losses, Aora's actions remain in a gray area of law. The legal complexity that surrounds Arora's way of utilizing celebrity endorsements to promote tokens, then selling them quickly, makes legal action against her difficult. In fact, the celebrities involved in this project did not take legal action against Arora, perhaps because they were also responsible for the failure of the tokens they promoted.

Arora's official X (former Twitter) account, @Habibi_Comm, was suspended on July 4 for violating platform rules. However, he allegedly has several other accounts on the platform and continues to direct his followers to a new account via his Telegram channel.

The Sahil Arora case shows how vulnerable the crypto world is to manipulation involving famous figures. Although he managed to reap big profits, thousands of investors had to bear many losses.