American singer Jason Derulo has come under fire for allegedly selling his newly launched JASON crypto tokens despite his public assurances that he would not sell. According to analytics firm Bubblemaps, Derulo sold thousands of dollars worth of the tokens, contradicting his repeated statements of "WILL NEVER SELL."

Derulo, whose real name is Jason Desrouleaux, had earlier shared the contract address for the Solana-based JASON token on June 23 via X (formerly Twitter), leading to a frenzy of trading activity. The token experienced a rapid pump-and-dump cycle within minutes, as shown by data from DEX Screener. In a post following the tumultuous trading, Derulo blamed Sahil Arora, an alleged serial scammer and celebrity memecoin promoter, for misleading him. He vowed to "do everything in my power to send this shit to the moon."

Despite Derulo's claims of being deceived by Arora, Bubblemaps expressed skepticism. The analytics firm posted on X on June 24 that they doubted Derulo was merely a victim. They discovered that wallets purportedly associated with Arora held half of the JASON token supply and dumped almost everything, making a $180,000 profit shortly after Derulo's initial post.

Further investigation by Bubblemaps revealed that a wallet they alleged belonged to Derulo had received tokens directly from Arora’s wallet. This wallet reportedly sold around $20,000 worth of the token, despite Derulo’s public assertions that he would not sell his holdings.

Sahil Arora, in response to Cointelegraph’s inquiries about Bubblemaps’ findings, confirmed that it was an orchestrated plan and claimed both he and Derulo had "skin in the game." Arora emphasized that people with insight could easily see the plan. He acknowledged that the wallet identified by Bubblemaps as Derulo's was accurate. When asked about the optics of Derulo selling his tokens, Arora cryptically responded with a GIF of Dagestani influencer Hasbulla saying, "business, business."

Jason Derulo could not be reached for comment on the situation. Despite the controversy, the plan appears to have had some success. The value of the JASON token surged by 175% in the past day, achieving a market capitalization of $7.7 million. However, it is currently down 40.5% from its peak value of just over one cent on June 24.

This incident highlights the volatile and often opaque nature of the cryptocurrency market, especially concerning celebrity endorsements and newly launched tokens.