Crypto group claims responsibility for hurling sex toys at WNBA games
Meghan L. Hall
USA TODAY
Cryptocurrency meme coin creators say they are responsible for the sex toys being thrown at multiple WNBA games, and they are planning more "pranks."
From Atlanta to Los Angeles, no arena has been safe from neon green objects whizzing from the stands, through the air and onto WNBA courts. If there is an opportune window, a brightly colored entity will be thrown, causing intentional and symbolic chaos, according to a spokesman for the cryptocurrency group. The person, who uses the name @Daldo_Raine on social media, spoke to USA TODAY Sports on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
Over the past two weeks, there have been six known incidents of green sex toys being thrown at WNBA games. The latest to garner attention happened Tuesday night during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena in L.A. Green sex toys were also thrown in the stands at New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury games Tuesday, at two Atlanta Dream games last week and a Chicago Sky game Friday. Two people have been arrested on multiple charges for allegedly throwing the objects.
"It’s ridiculous, it’s dumb, it’s stupid," Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said after the game. "It’s also dangerous. Player safety is No. 1, respecting the game, all those things. I think it’s really stupid."
The spokesman for the crypto group told USA TODAY Sports that was not the intention. He said a group of crypto enthusiasts and traders launched Green Dildo Coin (DILDO), a meme coin intended to be lighthearted and perceived as a joke, in late July to protest what they describe as a "toxic" environment in the crypto world. According to the group, many smaller players in the space are struggling to keep up with the influx of influencers and scammers.
As a form of protest, the meme coin was created, and the faction began infiltrating WNBA arenas with color-coordinated sex toys to coincide with the launch. USA TODAY Sports obtained text messages showing the group's coordination and planning before the coin's launch July 28 and the first sex toy being thrown at a WNBA game July 29.
USA TODAY Sports has reached out to the WNBA about the crypto group, the sex toy incidents and security measures moving forward. The league declined to comment on the record.
The crypto group's spokesman said it's not their intention to harm anyone, and members of the community have been advised to only throw their branded green items if there is a level of personal comfort and the objects can land without hitting someone. He also shot down any narrative that the sex toys were a sign of disrespect toward the women athletes.
Sex toys have been thrown at sporting events in the past, probably the most well known incident was at a New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills game in 2018.
"We didn't do this because like we dislike women's sports or, like, some of the narratives that are trending right now are ridiculous," he said. "Creating disruption at games is like, it happens in every single sport, right? We've seen it in the NFL, we've seen it in hockey, you know . . . fans doing random things to more or less create attention.
"We knew that in order to get a voice in the space ... we had to go out and do some viral stunts to save us from having to pay that influencer cabal, sacrifice our souls and the fate of the project."
The incidents began 10 days after the WNBA All-Star game, which featured significant media coverage and many viral moments on social media.
The spokesman explained that catapulting sex objects (with drawn-on sunglasses and the name of their coin) is to spread awareness about a culture they want to perpetuate, cultivated around jokes, pranks and various stunts. The green sex toy is supposed to mirror a green candle, and if the price of the candle goes up, it represents volatility, which the spokesman for the meme coin group claims is a trader's dream. The bright color of the object was intentional, he said, to be disruptive and create curiosity.
He also said the two people arrested were not part of their group. Delbert Carver was booked for disorderly conduct, public indecency/indecent exposure and criminal trespass after allegedly throwing a sex toy at the Atlanta Dream's stadium Saturday. And 18-year-old Kaden Lopez was arrested in Phoenix on suspicion of disorderly conduct, assault and public display of explicit sexual material. According to the local FOX station, Lopez told police he saw the viral trend on social media and purchased his own green sex toy.
"Moving forward, we have a lot more pranks, but they're a lot lighter. They're a lot more tasteful," the spokesman said. "They're with a lot of different branded merch, and it's more or less to keep the dildo being spotted in different places that are high-traffic areas with cameras."
The coordinated effort is a strategic protest against what the meme coin creators view as a small group of individuals controlling the crypto space. From the beginning, part of the group's mission has been to cause enough chaos to "get a voice" and media attention. The spokesman said they've since secured that and plan to continue with their rollout, though wouldn't reveal what the group has planned next.
The group has also placed a green sex toy on the Wall Street Bull in New York City and shared a video with USA TODAY Sports showing a person with a green sex toy sitting behind home plate at a Major League Baseball game. "We wanna shift the culture in crypto, and we wanna be the 1,000 against the one," the spokesman said.
A meme coin is a type of crypto asset inspired by internet memes, characters or trends "for which the promoter seeks to attract an enthusiastic online community to purchase the meme coin and engage in its trading," according to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Meme coins are like collectibles with limited or no functionality, the SEC says, with value dictated by social and cultural influences. That carries more risk compared to other cryptocurrencies with values tied to more predictable supply and demand relationships.
The nature of the group's meme coin raises concerns this could be a short-term, pump-and-dump play. A pump-and-dump strategy typically involves inflating the price of a coin through marketing and the owners buying large quantities of the coin, then selling it to others who aren't in on the intention behind the coin. The original owners then release (dump) their coins to increase the supply once the price falls, and anyone left owning the cryptocurrency essentially has coins that have minimal value.
This particular meme coin has increased in value nearly 309% in the last seven days and more than 80% in the last 24 hours. It has a 24-hour trading volume of more than $1.3 million, according to cryptocurrency website coingecko.com.
However, in a recorded conversation online, a member of the group said that is not their goal.
"Are we looking for a quick pump and dump? No. That’s never been the vision," they said on X. "The vision is … we wanna bring the trenches back to the timeline. We wanna bring a community of base [expletive] animals who like doing fun [expletive]."
This is a developing story and will be updated.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/w ... 551443007/
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