Anonymous Hacktivist Group Founder Spearheads Meme Coin While Facing 5 Years in Prison

“We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

The motto of notorious hacktivist group Anonymous has heralded some of the world’s most famous hacks, targeting everyone from the Westboro Baptist Church to Bank of America.

Now, one of its founding members is spearheading a Solana-based crypto project, which he brands as a “movement coin” rather than a traditional meme coin. The token is a homage to hacktivist culture, a way to help fund his ongoing legal battle, and a vehicle for the Anonymous movement to evolve.

Aubrey Cottle, more commonly known as Kirtaner or just Kirt online, told Decrypt that he was the founder of Anonymous, and has been widely reported as one of the founding members. Cottle faces up to five years in prison after the U.S. Department of Justice charged the Canadian in March for his alleged connection to a 2021 data breach of the Republican Party of Texas. 

This prompted an unknown crypto degen to create ANON, a Solana token on the Bags launchpad, assigning fees associated with it to Cottle. The Canadian embraced the ANON token, which has climbed to a market cap of $8 million since its creation on August 15, generating more than $59,000 in fees for Cottle in the process.

The hacktivist founder told Decrypt that the fees, in part, will be used to fund his legal battle and ensure his family is financially sound “if the worst happens.” On top of this, Cottle said, he is buying back the ANON token and setting aside chunks of supply for the original Anonymous members.

“I want every single one of us to make it, all of our old heroes,” Cottle told Decrypt. “People who put their lives on the line, people who sacrificed, people who were hunted down by the feds, people who were scared for their lives, ended up with years and years of trauma from times long past that. Making everybody feel as if it wasn’t just something that we dumped half of our lives into and came out the other end just completely fucked up with nothing to show for it.”

What is Anonymous?

Anonymous is a decentralized, international hacktivist group, often visually represented by a Guy Fawkes mask inspired by the novel and film “V for Vendetta.” The group is known for a series of high-profile attacks on major corporations and governments that Anonymous deemed guilty of wrongdoing.

In 2010, the group performed DDoS attacks on PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard after they blocked donations to WikiLeaks; it also declared a cyber war against Russia following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

“Hacktivism is the only axis of power accessible to the disenfranchised that can still strike at scale; it’s a pressure valve that’s needed in society,” Cottle told Decrypt. “It is the only way that we can actively push back against hostile state and corporate powers.”

The token’s community has embraced Anonymous culture to its core, not seeing ANON as a meme coin but rather a tokenized extension of the original hacktivist movement. One investor told Decrypt that the goal is to “push a rebellion” against institutions crippling everyday people. 

The group has adopted phrases associated with Anonymous, including its iconic motto, as well as adapting slogans from meme coin culture. “The hat stays on,” associated with the Dogwifhat meme coin community, has become “The mask stays on” in a nod to the Guy Fawkes mask.

ANON investor Tx_Dak dubbed the token “the first real movement coin on Solana.” Speaking to Decrypt, they touted Cottle’s credentials as the “actual founder” of the “biggest decentralized movement in the world,” who has made the token his “legacy project.” They added that, “This isn’t even a coin. It’s a tokenized version of the movement itself that shaped internet history forever. And now it’s going to shape the blockchain forever.”

Inspiring a new generation of hacktivists

While the token’s surge in value helped revitalize Anonymous’ memetic value—which peaked in 2012 and 2020, per Google Trends—it may also help kick-start the next generation of hacktivists.

ANON will eventually become a “self-organizing machine, just like Anonymous is,” Cottle told Decrypt. “Once it gets to a certain point, there are initiatives that I want to do. I want to create a scholarship fund for young, talented hackers, so they can do things like get key certifications and blossom in their careers. I want to be able to put together initiatives, such as legal defense funding pools behind a nonprofit for hacktivists.”

Cottle clarified that by “careers,” he doesn’t necessarily mean specifically in hacking; he just wants to help kids who were like him flourish. He also said that the plan is some way off, estimating that to make good on it, ANON would have to hit a $200 million market capitalization—more than a 2,400% price increase from its current value.

“I’m not setting up a radicalization school,” Cottle said with a laugh. “This is an effort of pure goodwill and trying to lift other people up.”