American rapper Kanye West has revealed that scammers provided him $2 million to advertise a fraudulent meme coin bearing his identify.
The revelation comes amid hypothesis that he’s exploring the crypto business and in search of connections with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Kanye West’s Crypto Revelation Raises Questions on Movie star Endorsements
West said that an unknown social gathering approached him with a profitable provide to mislead his viewers.
Based on his submit, the proposed deal included an preliminary cost of $750,000, with the remaining $1.25 million scheduled for launch 16 hours after he promoted the token.
The settlement additionally required the promotional submit to remain dwell for at the very least eight hours earlier than he may delete it. To cowl up the endorsement, the scammers instructed he later declare his account had been hacked.
The fraudsters’ last message bluntly admitted that their plan was to steal “tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}” from the general public.
Nevertheless, West rejected the deal as a result of he had little interest in deceiving his followers. The rapper additionally added that his web price is again to $2.77 billion, and he achieved that with out endorsing any cryptocurrency.
“I used to be proposed 2 million {dollars} to rip-off my community-those left of it. I stated no and stopped working with their one that proposed it,” West said.
Following his public rejection of the rip-off, West shared one other screenshot of a non-public dialog the place he sought steerage from a dependable determine within the crypto business. One suggestion pointed him towards Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Movie star Endorsements Have Misplaced Credibility
In the meantime, West’s revelation has raised issues about comparable incidents involving high-profile accounts on X. Over time, a number of celebrities and influencers have reported hacks that led to the promotion of questionable crypto tasks.
Some consider these so-called hacks might not all the time be real, suggesting sure influencers might willingly take part in these schemes.
“Are you telling me all the large accounts getting ‘hacked’ and posting a memecoin over the past a number of months are faux?” Crypto influencer NotEezzy questioned.
In the meantime, blockchain safety knowledgeable Yu Xian, founding father of SlowMist, confirmed that most of these scams are widespread. He famous that whereas compromised accounts are sometimes used for fraudulent promotions, scammers additionally straight strategy influencers with monetary incentives.
“I consider this type of rip-off exists. The scammers get an enormous [influencer] to behave within the scheme, submit a CA, and eight hours later, the large [influencer] tweets that they acquired hacked. However with a prepayment of $750,000, is it that intense?” Xian wrote.
Total, celebrity-endorsed meme cash are extremely questionable within the present market. The convenience of stealing hundreds of thousands with a easy rug pull is perhaps too profitable for some celebrities to disregard.
Customers should stay cautious and never take any superstar endorsement as a seal of belief or credibility.
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