Japan's Economic Security Minister and Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, has publicly disavowed any connection to a Solana-based meme token bearing her name, SANAE TOKEN. The statement was issued on X after the token briefly surged to a market capitalization of approximately $27.72 million before crashing by roughly 75% to around $6 million.
Takaichi wrote, "I have absolutely no knowledge of this token, nor has my office been informed about what this token entails. We have not given any approval whatsoever in this matter." She added that the clarification was made "to ensure that the public does not labor under any misapprehensions." Following her post, the token's value dropped more than 50% within four hours.
The token was announced on February 25 by NoBorder, a YouTube channel operated by Japanese entrepreneur Yuji Mizoguchi. It was positioned as an incentive for a project called "Japan is Back," a slogan associated with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. NoBorder stated the name "sanae" was chosen as it symbolizes "a democratically elected leader," though the project's website included a disclaimer denying affiliation with Takaichi.
In response to the controversy, creator Yuji Mizoguchi claimed, "We have not earned even a single yen in revenue from this matter," and defended the project's intentions while acknowledging significant public backlash.
On-chain data from GMGN and Wu Blockchain revealed significant concentration risks, with the top three wallet addresses holding roughly 60% of the token's supply. At the time of reporting, SANAE TOKEN (SANAET) was trading at $0.0075 with a market cap of about $7.5 million, supported by fewer than 950 holders and less than $400,000 in liquidity.
This incident follows a pattern of political meme coin controversies, most notably the LIBRA token linked to Argentina's President Javier Milei, which surged to a $4.5 billion valuation before collapsing and triggering legal investigations.
