2026年2月末、日本の暗号資産界隈がざわついた騒動がありました。「サナエトークン（SANAET）」──高市早苗首相の名前を冠した仮想通貨が突如現れて、あっという間に大炎上したんです。

発行元はWeb3コミュニティ「NoBorder DAO」。溝口勇児氏が主催するグループで、2026年2月25日にSolanaブロックチェーン上でSANAETトークンを発行しました。「投機目的ではない」「DAO活動への報酬として付与する」という説明でしたが、発行直後から分散型取引所（DEX）で取引が始まり初値から約30倍に高騰。時価総額は一時2,770万ドル（約42億円）に達したんです。

In late February 2026, the Japanese crypto scene was abuzz once again. The cause? Sanae Token (SANAET) – a cryptocurrency bearing the name of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi – suddenly appeared and rapidly spiraled into a massive controversy.

Honestly, this whole saga has so many issues, it's hard to know where to start. But let's try to break it down. The token was issued by the Web3 community "NoBorder DAO," spearheaded by Yuji Mizoguchi, who runs a YouTube channel. On February 25, 2026, SANAET was launched on the Solana blockchain. Officially, it was described as "not for speculative purposes" and intended as a reward for expressing opinions within the NoBorder app and participating in DAO activities. It was part of the "Japan is Back" project, touting a grand vision of updating democracy through technology. The name's origin? "A symbol of a democratically elected leader." ...Yeah, that sounds an awful lot like prime ministerial endorsement, doesn't it?

首相が全面否定→価格50%暴落

3月2日、高市首相自身がXで「全く存じ上げない。事務所も関与・承認しておりません」と完全否定しました。この一言でサナエトークンの価格は50%以上暴落。首相の名前を無断で使われた上に、「公認っぽく見せかけた後援会のXアカウントによるリポスト」が火に油を注いだ形だったんです。

法的にも問題がある構造

金融庁が関連業者への調査を検討。焦点は資金決済法上の無登録暗号資産交換業の該当性とのこと。また運営側が総供給量の65%を保有しているという点も、投資家保護の観点から問題視されています。「投機目的ではない」と書いておいて30倍に高騰する仕組みがある矛盾も指摘されているんですよ。暗号資産に関わる際は「誰が・何の目的で・どんな構造で発行しているか」を必ず確認することが大切なんです。

Unsurprisingly, the token immediately began trading on decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and soared by approximately 30x from its initial price, reaching a peak market capitalization of 27.7 million USD (about 4.2 billion JPY). The fire was further fueled when a verified X (formerly Twitter) account of Prime Minister Takaichi's official support group seemingly reposted NoBorder's announcement. This sparked expectations of "official endorsement," leading to a buying frenzy.

However, on March 2, Prime Minister Takaichi herself dropped a bombshell on X: "I have no knowledge of this whatsoever. My office is not involved or authorized it." A complete denial. With that single statement, Sanae Token's price plummeted by over 50%. Well, of course it did. If a token is issued using the Prime Minister's name without permission, and then she denies it, selling is the only option.