Selling Early Cost Trader $35.9M on TROLL Meme Coin
A trader has allegedly missed out on a potential $35.9 million windfall from the Solana meme coin TROLL by selling his holding almost a year before its price exploded.
Leland King Fawcette, a developer behind the coin and known for a crypto-themed cross-country record attempt, admitted overcooking a small-scale trading experiment. He sold his $1,300 worth of TROLL shortly after a pump that reached a then-$9,360 market cap in August 2024, mintsdecrypt.com reports.
The Key Details
- Fawcette initially purchased $1,300 worth of TROLL on August 11, 2024.
- He sold his position approximately two hours later for roughly the same amount.
- At sale, TROLL’s market cap was $9,360.
- Fast forward nearly a year to April-July 2025, and TROLL’s market cap has soared to around $158 million, representing a staggering gain.
- Fawcette traces the coin’s subsequent rise to late April 2025, following potential groundwork.
The Rise and Fall
Fawcette outlined his initial, limited involvement in Decrypt.com interviews. “I first bundled TROLL back on August 11th, 2024. I wanted to…shill a meme coin…simply to see if any KOL was dumb enough to do it,” he explained. No KOL committed, so he “dumped” on copy traders and moved on.
The August 11th launch saw TROLL pump briefly to $9,360 before giving back gains. Fawcette later suggested the coin’s trajectory from late April was distinct, fueled perhaps by community building or organic growth as the market experienced a broader resurgence.
Peak value briefly reached $42 million before consolidation below $30 million. Following a surge starting July 26th, the market cap touched an all-time high of $166 million.
Rival Coin & Context
During TROLL’s late 2024 consolidation, the original “Trollface” artist, Carlos Ramirez (Saint Whynne), briefly promoted a rival TROLL coin on X, which peaked at $14 million but subsequently collapsed 99%.
This rival coin and other meme tokens launched via Pump.fun likely saw far larger sums become overnight fortunes than Fawcette potentially missed, highlighting the extreme volatility and potential risks in the meme coin market.
TROLL itself was created on the popular Platform, which has facilitated thousands of meme coins since 2024.
Lessons and Fawcette’s Take
Facing potential accusations of selling too early, Fawcette shifted focus to the timeline. Few investors hold since August 2024, he noted. “The feeling of destruction…does not really exist for me,” he stated, adding the coin’s run was unrelated to his early selling since it started after August. He maintained there were “no indications” the coin would run in August, framing the $36 million missed gain within the chaotic nature of the meme coin scene and his specific role.
