On Monday, the Argentine national team and Inter Miami player shared a photo with his 504 million Instagram followers, and helped drive the price of the cryptocurrency WATER up by 356%.
The image featured Messi with WATER's mascot – a drawing of a glass of water – on his shoulder. He also included a link to the project's Instagram page.
As a result, the price of WATER soared from $0.00032 to $0.00146 within just two hours, a 356% increase. The price has since dropped to just over $0.001, but it still marks a 215.6% rise in the last 24 hours. The coin now has a market cap of around $94 million.
Not much is known about the coin. According to its dedicated website, the aim is "to achieve a positive impact on the real world through charity." However, the site provides no details on how this will be accomplished, stating only that "WATER is a meme coin without intrinsic value or expectation of financial return." The developers hope to address issues like deforestation and water distribution in Africa.
Messi's link to WATER may be through its availability on the crypto platform Bitget, which the soccer star has promoted since October 2022. Messi's representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Former Brazilian soccer legend Ronaldinho also promoted the coin on his Instagram, helping to boost its price. He posted a photo with the glass of water mascot on Tuesday.