2021 is the year that virtually every social media influencer and celebrity climb out of the proverbial woodwork to talk, endorse or launch their cryptocurrency.
A cryptocurrency is a form of digital currency in which the medium of exchange is digital and takes place over a computer network. It is a currency that exists and is available to you without relying on any central government agency such as a bank or government. We all know that social media is now filled with influencers big and small, many of whom have started selling and flattering cryptocurrencies to their millions of followers. This is a general recipe for financial disaster.
It started in early 2021 when a group of jolly stock-savvy Redditors called to arms to prevent Wall Street from shorting the stock of GameStop, a popular video game retailer. Thousands of small and first-time investors bought Gamestop shares, pushing the price from $18 to nearly $500.
Because of its success, people started looking for the next big “meme” stock. Elon Musk joined the fray, tweeting about Dogecoin, which soon saw an 800% surge. While its success was a rare event or a fluke, many of its early investors became wealthy, leading to a pandemic case of cryptocurrency mixed with FOMO.
Many are starting to wonder: what if another governor is on the horizon? A veritable Pandora’s box of answers to people’s questions has flooded social media, all sold by influencers. Seemingly overnight, everyone and his mother shuffled and encrypted.
The cat lady from Netflix Tiger King created her coin called “Cat Coin”. Kim Kardashian and Floyd Mayweather endorsed Ethereum Max, an Ethereum copycat that caused many of their fans to lose money, and have both sued them for fraud. Former Wall Street criminal Jordan Belfort (aka The Wolf of Wall Street) promoted the MoonBoys cryptocurrency, which is currently trading at $0. These rich and privileged celebrities are technically putting the future financial security of their fans at risk in exchange for lucrative payments to back these coins.
But it’s not all well-known stars. There are quite a few influencers, especially on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, who produce content daily about how their young followers should invest in many illicit currencies.
These include Polydoge, Milf Token, Dink Doink, and the infamous “charity” coin Save the Children. Studies have shown that these coins are worthless or just massive scams, which is why they need influencers to help them sell.
Influencers would push up cryptocurrencies and drive the crowd into a buying frenzy, and when the buying started, they would turn around and dump their holdings, flooding the market with tokens and causing prices to plummet.
It’s important to take everything an influencer says with a grain of salt. Either they are paid to back these fraudulent currencies, or worse, they are part of or mastermind the system.
Directed by: Jonathan Aubrey
