{"id":129194,"date":"2025-08-08T13:53:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129194\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T13:53:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T13:53:09","slug":"wnba-sex-toy-incidents-may-be-linked-to-cryptocurrency-groups-money-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129194\/","title":{"rendered":"WNBA sex toy incidents may be linked to cryptocurrency group\u2019s money scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late in the first half of a Los Angeles Sparks-Indiana Fever game on Tuesday night, a neon green sex toy thrown from the stands landed on the floor of Crypto.com Arena, at the feet of Indiana guard Sophie Cunningham.<\/p>\n

Simultaneously, a group of people during an audio livestream on X reveled in the moment and celebrated its potential to help boost the value of a particular memecoin, a cryptocurrency deriving from an internet meme but traded through very real markets online. The coin was created July 28, the day before the first occurrence of a sex toy being thrown on a WNBA court. As of Thursday, the coin\u2019s worth had nearly tripled in its first week.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone is tweeting that there\u2019s one at the Sparks game,\u201d one person said on the stream.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is literally the best case scenario that we could possibly imagine,\u201d another replied, because the sex toy had fallen near Cunningham, who had previously posted a plea for spectators not to throw the objects onto the court, which was met with numerous replies of memes involving the phallic object.<\/p>\n

The disruption in Los Angeles \u2014 as well as others that occurred that evening \u2014 appeared to be part of a coordinated effort, borne out of conversations held in some particularly murky, often mysterious corners of internet culture, social media and opportunistic plays in the cryptocurrency markets.<\/p>\n

Like many things on the internet, users speaking about the disruptions have often shielded their identities through pseudonyms even as they interact in open forums on X and on the messaging platform Telegram. And the memecoin itself appeared to be one in a long line of novelty digital assets originating from a meme, part of an odd intersection of jokes that turn a gag into something users try to spin into play for money, like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu coin.<\/p>\n

One user speaking on an X stream called the attention created by the WNBA disruptions and the resulting chatter \u201cnext level.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is empowering to every f\u2014ing crypto community to start thinking outside the box. Get creative and f\u2014ing do something that makes people actually laugh. Memecoins should make you laugh,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cThe whole mission with this was focus on making an impact in crypto culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

It appears the WNBA and its athletes are central to the joke in spite of their objections. And the conversation about the disruptions has created opportunities for detractors of women\u2019s basketball to mock the league and women\u2019s sports more generally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sexualization of women is what\u2019s used to hold women down, and this is no different,\u201d Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. \u201cThese people that are doing this should be held accountable. We\u2019re not the butt of the joke, they\u2019re the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

From @TheAthletic<\/a>: Making a sex toy the focal point of games in a league that has perhaps the most openly gay and queer players doesn\u2019t seem like an accident, our columnist writes. These recent incidents are another attempt to demean women in sports.https:\/\/t.co\/cByhwJ5esh<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/vpYMjlYP6E<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 The New York Times (@nytimes) August 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On Thursday, Donald Trump Jr. shared a meme<\/a> that pictured his father, President Donald J. Trump, throwing a sex toy off the roof of the White House onto a court of women\u2019s basketball players. \u201cPosted without further comment,\u201d the younger Trump said, adding three crying laughing emojis.<\/p>\n

Beginning on July 29<\/a>, three neon green sex toys have been thrown onto WNBA courts. An X video from Tuesday night\u2019s New York Liberty game shows a similar object confiscated in the stands. A Liberty spokesperson said an investigation was happening and the team was cooperating with law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Other social media users claimed there was an attempt to throw a sex toy at a Phoenix Mercury game being played at the same time of the Sparks\u2019 contest.<\/p>\n

During Tuesday\u2019s livestream, there was also talk of someone throwing another toy at the Seattle Storm\u2019s Climate Pledge Arena during Tuesday\u2019s game against the Minnesota Lynx, though no incident occurred, a Storm spokesperson confirmed to The Athletic.<\/p>\n

The conversations appeared to connect to the community for a crypto memecoin called Green Dildo Coin. On Tuesday night\u2019s livestream, members said they had been communicating with people throwing sex toys at WNBA arenas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just got confirmation L.A. is out of the building,\u201d one member of the stream said around seven minutes after the sex toy landed on the court at the Sparks game, indicating that the person who threw it had fled without being apprehended.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are community members out there putting their f\u2014ing lives on the line, so the least you can do is retweet,\u201d the same member said as the act was beginning to go viral on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential tosser (in Seattle), if you will, lost his phone in Lake Washington, so I had to reach out to a friend who was able to get me in contact, and he\u2019s all set now,\u201d another member of the stream said of the potential incident at Tuesday\u2019s Storm game.<\/p>\n

A league source told The Athletic that the WNBA is aware of the Green Dildo Coin\u2019s recent X stream.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon our request for an update, the league advised the players\u2019 union that it was investigating claims that individuals were being incentivized to carry out these, unsafe stunts,\u201d Terri Jackson, the executive director of the players\u2019 union, said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Last week, a 23-year-old Georgia man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, public indecency\/indecent exposure and criminal trespass, according to Clayton County\u2019s court system, days after the first of these incidents.<\/p>\n

Some messages shared on the stream and in the memecoin\u2019s Telegram chat suggested that those directly involved in the community were not aware of Delbert Carver before his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, that was not anybody in the community,\u201d said one member on Tuesday\u2019s stream. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to give it any credit, but I was kind of thinking we could go and pay that guy\u2019s bail, and just say, like you know what, we support green dildo throwers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, members were alerted to watch the Atlanta Dream-Golden State Valkyries game on July 29, generating anticipation and plenty of jokes. One Telegram message at tipoff said, \u201cDildo warrior practicing his throw!\u201d with a brief video of a person repeating short tosses of a sex toy inside a home.<\/p>\n

The WNBA said in a statement Saturday that anyone throwing an object onto the court would be immediately ejected, is subject to a one-year ban and could face arrest and prosecution by local authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe safety and well-being of everyone in our arenas is a top priority for our league. Objects of any kind thrown onto the court or in the seating area can pose a safety risk for players, game officials, and fans,\u201d the league said.<\/p>\n

An 18-year-old man, Kaden Lopez, was also arrested while at Tuesday\u2019s Mercury game after police said he threw a sex toy toward the seats in front of him, hitting a man and his 9-year-old niece. Sergeant Phil Krynsky, a spokesperson for the Phoenix Police Department, confirmed Lopez\u2019s arrest in a statement.<\/p>\n

The identities of those who originated Green Dildo Coin are unclear, though the domain of the memecoin\u2019s website was registered on July 19, according to Who.Is, an internet domain lookup service. Memecoins, according to Christian Grewell, an expert on blockchain and cryptocurrency technology at New York University, \u201ccost almost nothing to make, essentially they\u2019re free, but they can generate millions in profits within days.\u201d<\/p>\n

The community also has an online storefront that sells apparel related to the sex toy and the memecoin. It was registered on July 7, close to two weeks before the first sex toy was thrown onto a WNBA court.<\/p>\n

Green Dildo Coin launched its account on X on July 28. Its apparent founder, who uses the name Lt. Daldo Raine, voiced a nearly 15-minute speech spoofing the opening speech of Brad Pitt\u2019s character, Lt. Aldo Raine, in Quentin Tarantino\u2019s \u201cInglorious Basterds,\u201d to explain the purpose of the memecoin. The WNBA is not explicitly mentioned in the opening comments, but Raine said that \u201cevidence of our cruelty\u201d would be found in the \u201cgiant green, aggressive, and erect candles we leave behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

In multiple livestreams reviewed by The Athletic, members routinely voiced crude humor about the WNBA. Jokes were made about WNBA viewership, and memes circulated in the group\u2019s Telegram often superimposed the sex toy into the hands of WNBA players.<\/p>\n

Three moderators of the Telegram group and the official account on X for the coin did not provide comment, though the moderators said they would forward The Athletic\u2019s request to answer questions about the streams and the chats.<\/p>\n

The disruptions appeared to change the trading prices of $DILDO. According to the coingecko cryptocurrency website, it had a trading volume of more than $1.5 million between Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Polymarket, a cryptocurrency-based prediction model, also took bets on whether disruptions would occur. The site reported that it took in more than $180,000 in volume on whether a sex toy would be thrown at a game by Aug. 10. Users of the platform could also speculate on when another sex toy might hit the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dildo-throwing incidents were essentially an excuse for bad actors to hijack existing negativity and convert it into attention,\u201d Grewell said in an email.<\/p>\n

Raine, the spokesperson of the group, told USA Today that the WNBA disruptions were likely done but that the pranks would continue. A photo on Telegram and elsewhere online showed a spectator holding a green sex toy at Wednesday night\u2019s Miami Marlins game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re too disruptive for too long, people will get pissed off,\u201d a member said Tuesday on stream. \u201cThe bigger events, we gotta find creative ways to like trick the cameras onto us and then, f\u2014ing bingo.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 31, Raine in the chat asked members to let him know if \u201cyou know people or have resources to make these happen,\u201d with a list of 12 of the 13 WNBA cities, plus upcoming high-profile comedy tours, concerts, and the U.S. Open tennis major beginning later this month in New York.<\/p>\n

WNBA players and coaches have voiced their displeasure with the incidents and asked for consideration of player safety.<\/p>\n

After the second incident, which occurred in Chicago last Friday, Sky center Elizabeth Williams said it was \u201csuper disrespectful\u201d and \u201creally immature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous, it\u2019s dumb, it\u2019s stupid,\u201d Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said.<\/p>\n

The Athletic\u2018s Matt Moret contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

(Photo of Sophie Cunningham: Sean M. Haffey \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n