What Is REAL? An Insight into Conor McGregor’s staking-enabled memecoin
Conor McGregor, famously referred to as “Notorious,” is an Irish mixed martial artist born in Dublin on July 14, 1988. He is celebrated for his accomplishments in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he became the inaugural fighter to hold titles across two weight categories—featherweight and lightweight.
Aside from his fighting endeavors, McGregor explored business opportunities, launching his whiskey brand, Proper No. Twelve, in 2018, which reflects his Dublin heritage.
He capitalized on his UFC popularity to promote the triple-distilled spirit. In 2021, McGregor sold a major portion of his business to Proximo Spirits, estimated at $600 million, while still retaining a significant position.
In April 2025, McGregor entered the cryptocurrency sector by launching a memecoin called “REAL.” Claiming it would revolutionize the crypto space, the digital currency was introduced via a sealed-bid auction to avoid manipulation from bots and snipers.
Created in partnership with the Real World Gaming (RWG) decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), the REAL memecoin provides holders with staking incentives and voting rights within its community.
What transpired during the REAL memecoin fundraising?
With the REAL memecoin, McGregor intended to make a significant mark in the cryptocurrency domain. However, events unfolded differently than expected.
McGregor collaborated with RWG, a decentralized autonomous organization, aiming to secure funding for the initiative with a minimum target of $1,008,000. However, during the 28-hour presale, the DAO managed to gather $392,315 in USDC (USDC) from 668 contributors, achieving only 39% of its goal.
RWG admitted that the auction did not meet the required minimum, announcing that they would refund all the bids in full. McGregor himself supported the statement.
For the fundraising event, the REAL token was offered through a sealed-bid auction on Axis Finance. Users confidentially submitted bids indicating their desired quantity and price, with tokens awarded to the top bidders at a single clearing price.
After reflecting on their shortcomings, RWG is now planning to reinitiate the fundraising. The team has yet to announce a specific date for the relaunch.
McGregor has remained vocal, frequently announcing or endorsing updates about the project with his trademark phrase, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is REAL!” The team aims to redefine the token’s purpose and potentially adjust its fundraising strategy for a more successful relaunch.
Did you know? Memecoins often appreciate in value due to community excitement and viral phenomena rather than technical advancements. While they may lack solid fundamentals, social media buzz and celebrity endorsements can lead to substantial short-term profits, making them attractive to high-risk, high-reward investors.
Factors leading to REAL memecoin’s fundraising setback
The RWG initiative to launch the REAL memecoin encountered several obstacles, resulting in the DAO’s failure to achieve its fundraising targets.
Numerous elements contributed to this result:
- Market circumstances: The launch coincided with a downturn in the cryptocurrency landscape. Major cryptocurrencies such as Ether (ETH) and Solana (SOL) experienced substantial declines. Bitcoin (BTC) remained an outlier, as investors considered it a store of value. Memecoins saw nearly a 60% drop following December 24, with GHIBLI being an exception. Such a negative climate was not favorable for launching another memecoin.
- Economic context: The global economy is undergoing a phase of restructuring due to the tariff reorganization by the Trump administration, which led to a US stock market decline of approximately $5 trillion, surpassing the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies. (Although the market crash occurred post-fundraising failure, the situation had been developing). The tariffs introduced uncertainty into the global economic framework, adversely affecting the cryptocurrency sector.
Recession anxieties and considerable losses in US equities made investors more cautious.
- Frauds linked to memecoins: In 2024, over $500 million was lost to memecoin frauds and scams, as indicated by Merkle Science, triggering significant distrust towards memecoins. An example includes hackers accessing Kylian Mbappe’s X account to promote a fake memecoin that reached a $460 million market cap before collapsing. In a similar vein, Wiz Khalifa’s 35.7 million X followers faced a scam involving a fake WIZ token, which briefly achieved a $3.4 million market cap before crashing. This drop in investor confidence likely influenced the perception of the REAL token. Nansen Research’s Nicolai Sondergaard commented that seasoned traders quickly realized profits.
- Misconception regarding the token’s intent: In spite of McGregor’s claims that REAL was a legitimate initiative with practical applications, many interpreted it as just another celebrity-supported memecoin. This misperception may have diminished the token’s credibility, discouraging potential investors.
- Investor wariness regarding celebrity tokens: The cryptocurrency community has become increasingly skeptical of tokens associated with celebrities, particularly following numerous notable failures. Even tokens linked to Donald Trump and Melania saw a steep decline, resulting in significant losses for investors. Other well-known celebrity token failures added to this caution.
include Hawk Tuah (HAWK) by Haliey Welch and Daddy Tate (DADDY) by Andrew Tate. Numerous celebrities linked with cryptocurrency have tarnished their reputations. Davido, a renowned Nigerian Afrobeat artist, introduced his memecoin Davido (DAVIDO) and capitalized on pump and dump schemes. Such events led investors to regard memecoins with skepticism.
- McGregor’s reputation: While vital to his achievements in the UFC, Conor McGregor’s audacious character negatively impacted his standing in the crypto arena. His track record of disputes and reckless actions compromised confidence in the project’s authenticity. His persona raised alarms, particularly in a field already riddled with frauds.
Did you know? Certain memecoins have ignited real-world contributions and activism. The Dogecoin community previously raised over $50,000 to support the Jamaican bobsled team in the 2014 Winter Olympics, illustrating that memecoins can encourage enjoyment and charitable acts.
Purpose and tokenomics of REAL memecoin
The aim of REAL is to enable activities such as staking, governance, and utility, alongside a genuine MMA match simulator and prospective business collaborations. Nevertheless, its tokenomics has faced criticism.
According to the RWG team, the REAL memecoin tokenomics framework was crafted for clarity and community involvement, allocating 32% of the total supply to the DAO treasury to foster ecosystem expansion, while 17% was shared with the community to encourage participation.
To receive governance advantages and incentives, tokenholders could stake the coin; 10% was designated for the development team. The strategy intended to finance sports and gaming startups, merging excitement with tangible utility.
Critics identified weaknesses in the tokenomics, deeming that a factor in the unsuccessful fundraising efforts. They especially criticized the token’s 12-hour unlock window.
This provision enabled investors to offload their tokens immediately following the acquisition and generate profits, even as the value decreased. Various projects had previously utilized such a framework for pump and dump practices, setting a poor precedent. This discouraged long-term investors pursuing sustainable development.
The project’s promotional strategy also sparked worries, with many believing it added no genuine value and merely sought to exploit a celebrity’s name.
The inclusion of third-party logos on its platform led to allegations of deceptive advertising techniques, compromising the project’s integrity and dissuading potential investors. Furthermore, the absence of a well-defined roadmap for REAL only intensified investor doubts.
Wider risks of celebrity-backed tokens
The outcome of McGregor’s REAL memecoin fundraising underscores the broader dangers related to celebrity crypto endorsements. Although celebrities attract attention and have vast followings, their participation often lacks depth, long-term dedication, or technological comprehension of the initiatives they support.
Tokens endorsed by celebrities frequently depend on hype rather than genuine worth, resulting in pump-and-dump situations where early investors gain while newcomers incur losses.
The credibility of the cryptocurrency sector suffers when such initiatives fail, reinforcing public skepticism. The manner in which REAL’s fundraising event unfolded serves as a reminder that fame does not equate to a project’s legitimacy.
Regulators are also paying closer attention to these endorsements, potentially leading to legal repercussions for misleading promotions. For the cryptocurrency ecosystem to mature, initiatives must emphasize transparency, utility, and experienced leadership over viral advertising.
The failure of REAL’s memecoin fundraising highlights that authentic trust and long-term vision hold greater significance than celebrity prestige in cryptocurrency funding.
Did you know? Shiba Inu, introduced in 2020 by “Ryoshi,” was labeled the “Dogecoin killer.” With a supply of a quadrillion tokens and a lively “Shib Army” community, it achieved a market cap of $40 billion in 2021.
What lessons can investors draw from the failure of REAL memecoin fundraising?
Participants in the crypto sector can glean numerous insights from the unsuccessful fundraising of REAL memecoin.
Primarily, hype is not a replacement for actual value. Relying exclusively on celebrity influence without comprehending the core aspects of a project can lead to misguided investment choices.
REAL also illustrated how swiftly investor sentiment can change. Initial enthusiasm transitioned into skepticism as users recognized the absence of community participation and the utility supporting the token.
McGregor’s limited involvement and controversial public persona exacerbated uncertainties, demonstrating that star power does not assure project endurance or reliability.
Investors must appreciate the significance of conducting their own research (DYOR). Just because a celebrity endorses a token does not imply its credibility. Evaluating real-world applications, developer engagement, tokenomics, and community input is crucial.
Ultimately, the downfall of the REAL fundraising emphasizes the necessity for regulatory transparency in celebrity endorsements. In the absence of it, misleading promotions will persist in harming retail investors and ultimately undermine the credibility of the cryptocurrency landscape.
