Meme Stock Influencer Roaring Kitty Returns to Twitter, Flexes His Enduring Influence

Meme stock influencer Keith Gill, aka Roaring Kitty, flexed his enduring influence over odd corners of the stock market this week, as the much-hyped airdrop for Ethereum layer-2 network Blast appeared to fall flat.

Meme stock influencer Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty, showcased his enduring influence over the stock market's fringes this week, as the hyped airdrop for Ethereum layer-2 network Blast appeared to fall flat.

After a prolonged absence, GameStop bull Roaring Kitty made a surprise return to Twitter on Thursday with a cryptic, wordless post of a cartoon dog.

pic.twitter.com/jQBMX4jwjR

— Roaring Kitty (@TheRoaringKitty) June 27, 2024

Within 15 minutes, the (forgive us) dog whistle sent major pet care stocks soaring. Chewy, Inc. instantly surged 33%, Petco pumped 14%, and PetMed Express saw a 7% bump.

Those jumps collectively created several billions of dollars in value within minutes. Just as quickly, however, the gains were erased.

As is becoming increasingly common with such phenomena, a Solana meme coin also named CHEWY surged some 11,000% on the news cycle. Curiously, some traders appear to have bought up the token before Roaring Kitty made his canine-themed post.

If this isn't @TheRoaringKitty then who is it?

The wallet that owns 15% of $CHEWY bought YESTERDAY when it was dead at an $8k mc….and has only added more without selling any. https://t.co/iXHF2RyTuV pic.twitter.com/DMMEoFPYP4

— Bando (@BandoNFT) June 27, 2042

Similarly opportune trades appear to have been made on CHEWY’s stock earlier this week.

Holy shit.

Unusual Whales has been following the unusual Chewy, $CHWY, buyers.

Since Monday, large blocks of $CHWY $30c 7/19 were followed.

Could this be RoaringKitty of $GME again? We don't know.

But they have made millions.

The $CHWY options chain has been bullish. pic.twitter.com/RTDfeUglwo

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) June 27, 2024

Meanwhile, in the cryptoverse proper, this week saw the long-awaited launch of Blast’s native token, via a free airdrop of some 17 billion newly minted BLAST tokens.

Many expected the event to be the free money event of the summer. And while it was certainly nothing to scoff at—early trading prices pegged the airdrop at a collective value of $354 million—many Blast users were sorely disappointed with those figures.

So I deposited over $50M on @Blast_L2 and get $100k airdrop on TGE. Now I am pretty sure @Blast_L2 is a scam project and @PacmanBlur is a “serial rug entrepreneur”. Never blocked anyone in CT before, he made it. I felt so shame to trust him before.This will be my last tweet… pic.twitter.com/G4f3x2gdUC

— Christian2022.eth (@Christianeth) June 26, 2024

The disappointment likely stemmed from previous, sky-high expectations for the token, which were based on the Blast network’s popularity among crypto whales and the exorbitant sums collected during the airdrop for Blast’s predecessor Blur—the disruptive, incentivized NFT marketplace.

“How'd the blast airdrop go?”

The blast airdrop: pic.twitter.com/3HtWJGhgL3

— Wizzy (@wizzyknows) June 26, 2024

As soon as BLAST debuted on Wednesday morning, the token experienced a massive sell-off, which only served to plunge its price further. That's common for airdrops—but again, the massive expectations amplified the initial malaise.

Its literally only Sells on $BLAST.I am worried. pic.twitter.com/J40ZVZsnC8

— Easy (@EasyEatsBodega) June 26, 2024

However, some Blast ecosystem stakeholders—such as savvy Fantasy Top player Jenndefer—pushed back on the narrative that the Blast airdrop failed.

Jenndefer noted, within hours of BLAST’s lackluster debut, that while many Blast users had dumped the new token, many whales in the ecosystem remained committed to it.

You're telling me, whales are accumulating and hodling while low-conviction farmers are capitulating?

And you're freaking out on the TL?

Couldn't be me.

Dash from @rezarwz paints a different picture ?https://t.co/wmB50i4nfL pic.twitter.