Vine founder posts meme token for fun, whales quickly snipe the supply

The founder of Vine, Rus Yusupov, announced an official meme coin—Vinecoin (VINE). The token was soon sniped by whales, with large SOL orders coming hours after the launch. 

Vinecoin (VINE) is the next official meme token expected to make it big with a valuation above $1B. Vine founder Rus Yusupov posted a CA for a new asset, with proof his account was not hacked. Rus posted on X, claiming the token launch was driven by nostalgia. 

Remembering all the fun we had building vine — Let’s relive the magic and DO IT FOR THE #VINECOIN

CA: 6AJcP7wuLwmRYLBNbi825wgguaPsWzPBEHcHndpRpump

— Rus (@rus) January 23, 2025

The announcement came just two days after Elon Musk posted a message about wanting to revive Vine. By owning X, Musk also controls the Vine brand and the archive of old videos.

The relaunch of Vine, combined with an official meme token, would extend the ‘Made in USA’ crypto trend with a new locally launched video service for short formats. The token was launched at a time when the AI agent launch trend was slowing down, while attention shifted to official meme tokens tied to real persons or brands.

Despite the ‘fun’ element, whales and exchanges took VINE seriously, and trading accelerated. Early sniping by smart money and wallet clusters led VINE to over $200M in market capitalization in the first hours of trading. 

In the early hours, some whales also realized gains, causing a small drawdown from the top. However, VINE is considered the next meme to break the $1B market cap milestone. 

The token launch also coincides with the hint at relaunching a video service similar to Vine, which could integrate the token for tips or payments. There are no details on how Vine would relaunch since X now owns the brand. In the past, Yusupov has tried relaunching a similar service, which was again discontinued in 2023. 

To boost bullish volumes, Yusupov posted a token-locking schedule for the founders’ share until 4/20/2025. He also hinted at relaunching the service, attempting to fill the vacuum after the TikTok ban in the US market. 

Whales rush to snipe VINE

VINE launched before 5:00 GMT on Thursday and achieved over 161,000% growth from its low positions in the first seven hours of trading. The expansion coincided with highly directed buying volumes, often with repeated orders from whales for 500 SOL. 

Early buyers appeared immediately, turning both realized and unrealized gains. The token was also actively sniped in the early hours after its launch, which happened during a relatively inactive time for the crypto markets. 

An insider on $VINE has made a significant floating profit of $12.5M+.

The insider bought 66.98M $VINE for 18.48 $SOL ($4,582) and sold 14.67M $VINE for 879 $SOL worth $219,445 in one wallet.

In another wallets, insider holds 65.52M $VINE worth $12.2M+.

Main Wallet:… pic.twitter.com/HeQkQbjYmU

— Onchain Lens (@OnchainLens) January 23, 2025

Other early buyers sniped VINE automatically and sold for a small gain, then moved in again with more buying as the asset was deemed legitimate. Initial buyers were skeptical due to the recent launch of a fake, unofficial TikTok meme token. 

Traders ranged in their strategies, though top traders usually took profits for part of their holdings, retaining the rest for subsequent rallies. VINE posed the problem of being sniped as a risky token, later rallying when its legitimacy was proven, and the creator added positive messages on X. 

In the early days after its launch, VINE did not show high-activity clusters or large-scale insider sniping. However, experienced whales used their advantage to tap the contract early. The VINE launch arrives after a period of peak Solana traffic, linked to the launch of Official Trump (TRUMP).

VINE expanded to a peak of $0.20, later retreating toward $0.15. The asset’s main pool drew in $3.5M in liquidity, allowing early whales to cash out partially. The token’s market capitalization slid to $159M in the first day of trading, after peaking at 220M. 

Most of the early snipers sold out completely, while whale traders that held posted the biggest realized and unrealized gains.