Bubblemaps investigates four crypto KOLs, finding they used connected wallets to buy tokens early and sell after shilling them.

Bubblemaps published an on-chain investigation alleging four crypto KOLs used linked wallets to buy tokens ahead of their own social media promotions and sell into the resulting demand. Kimchi's associated wallets earned an estimated $6 million on TRUMP tokens, well below the $40 million previously circulated, while Solstice was tied to multiple memecoin issuers, with a public wallet down about $70,000 against roughly $270,000 in gains on linked wallets. Anglio's linked wallets bought before 61% of his calls, on average about 20 seconds early, for an estimated $130,000 profit, and 0xEthan allegedly sold through linked wallets within roughly three minutes of posting recommendations, netting about $125,000, including $45,000 in trading gains and $80,000 in Pump.fun call rewards. The findings matter because they quantify how much of KOL promotion may be self-interested positioning rather than impartial commentary, a persistent concern for retail traders in memecoin markets. Bubblemaps cautions that the figures are estimates derived from its own on-chain analysis, so the next step is to watch whether the named KOLs dispute the wallet attributions or change disclosure practices around sponsored calls.