No, ESPN isn’t attempting to sell you a crypto meme coin — at least not yet. You might have thought otherwise based on some of the network’s social media activity on Thursday night, as multiple ESPN accounts posted a puzzling advertisement for a cryptocurrency coin named $ESPN shortly after 7:30 p.m. ET. The posts, labeled as “the official ESPN token,” appeared on ESPN’s verified Instagram accounts and Facebook page, including College GameDay.
“The future of fan engagement starts now!” the post proclaimed, promoting the coin as available on the Solana blockchain platform.
.@CollegeGameDay on IG has been hacked don’t buy $ESPN pic.twitter.com/CSmU54HdDo
— Lugo (@WWMLD) February 7, 2025
They letting Facebook know first @espn pic.twitter.com/uGvo5P3L07
— 👑KingHaze🦄💨✨ (@kINghAZE518) February 7, 2025
Ultimately, while the $ESPN coin was indeed real — or at least as “real” as a meme coin could be — it had no affiliation with ESPN. Barstool Sports’ Jack McGuire noted how the coin’s price surged around the same time the social media posts were made before the inevitable rug pull occurred, leaving many holders to bear the consequences.
Lmao 20 minute rug pull. Be safe. pic.twitter.com/qMAVTIuQyS
— Jack Mac (@JackMacCFB) February 7, 2025
ESPN is not the first organization to be targeted in a cyber attack, nor will it be the last. Just last week, former ESPN star Jemele Hill lost control of her X account for over 24 hours, with hackers exploiting her feed for meme coin advertisements. While ESPN managed to recover its accounts in a relatively short time, it is surprising that such a major entity, owned by Disney, can still fall victim to this type of scheme, especially given the security measures likely in place. Hacking an ex-ESPN employee’s account is one thing, but breaching the Worldwide Leader is another matter entirely.
Despite some damage caused by the apparent pump-and-dump scheme, it seems to be minimal overall. One would hope that this incident prompts ESPN to enhance its precautions to avert similar situations in the future.
