Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi denied any involvement with a Solana-based memecoin bearing her name, triggering a 58% price crash and prompting a regulatory investigation.
The token, called SANAE TOKEN, launched on Feb. 25 without Takaichi’s knowledge and was promoted by entrepreneur Yuji Mizoguchi’s NoBorder DAO community as part of a “Japan is Back” initiative.
Takaichi dismissed the project in a post on X that drew more than 63 million views, stating that neither she nor her office had any connection to the cryptocurrency.
The token’s price quickly fell from $0.0137 to $0.0058 following the statement, leaving the project with a market capitalisation of about $62,000 and liquidity of roughly $25,000 by March 4.
Japan’s Financial Services Agency has since launched an investigation into the issuer after finding the company behind the token did not hold the crypto exchange licence required under the country’s Payment Services Act.
A company called neu, led by CEO Ken Matsui, later claimed responsibility for designing the token and issued a public apology while pledging cooperation with the investigation.
The controversy reflects a broader global trend of political memecoins attracting scrutiny after similar episodes involving tokens linked to figures such as Donald Trump and Argentina’s President Javier Milei triggered investor losses and regulatory backlash.
At the time of reporting, Solana price was $86.01.