- Base co-founder Jesse Pollak promoted a meme token issued by rapper Soulja Boy.
- ZachXBT cited Soulja Boy’s 70+ failed cryptocurrency promotions and NFT launches.
- Historic examples embody the RapDoge rug-pulling scandal and the SaferMars compensation leak.
Base co-founder Jesse Pollak promoted and supported a meme coin issued by rapper Soulja Boy, sparking neighborhood criticism. Blockchain researcher ZachXBT cited an April 2023 research that documented 73 promotions and 16 NFT launches by artists and questioned why rappers got the platform.
ZachXBT stated that many of those tasks are scams. Investigators famous that Soulja Boy is among the worst promoters within the cryptocurrency house, regardless of being required to observe FTC pointers as a U.S.-based influencer.
Investigators cite a number of rug-pulling cases
The research paperwork a number of examples of tasks that failed after promotion. On July 19, 2021, Soulja Boy posted about RapDoge and stated, “Increase your $RAPDOGE to $.000001 and get all your folks in on this.” The undertaking rug was withdrawn hours later after receiving further promotions from Lil Yachty and Quavo.
Two tasks, Orion and The Life Token, used most cancers and suicide prevention charities as a advertising and marketing mechanism to drive up the worth of their tokens. Inside a month of the promotion, Orionlag was discontinued and the X account was deleted. Life Token shall be deprecated in early 2022.
SaferMars turned one in every of Soulja Boy’s most notorious promotions after he left the reward particulars incorrectly displayed in promotional tweets. Experiences of the undertaking had been retracted quickly after, and the rapper deleted the tweet to take away the proof.
ZachXBT identifies Soulja’s NFT assortment
ZachXBT recognized 9 NFT collections created by Soulja Boy in 2021 alone. One of many collections, known as SouljaBoyNFT, marketed a number of types of utility, however the web site has gone offline. In response to the research, rappers charged as much as $12,000 for Instagram promotions and as much as $10,000 for X posts over the last crypto bull market.
Utilizing these numbers, the promotion generated roughly $730,000 in further funds from the NFT assortment. The Securities and Alternate Fee charged Soulja Boy with Tron-related actions, and he was sued for his involvement with Secure Moon.
Criticism has centered on Pollack’s determination to advertise the token regardless of the issuer’s documented observe file. Base operates as Coinbase’s Layer 2 blockchain community, launched in 2023. The platform has positioned itself as an infrastructure for bringing mainstream customers into cryptocurrencies.
Associated: Hacked Binance WeChat causes 200% Mubaraka spike, CZ points warning
Disclaimer: The data contained on this article is for informational and academic functions solely. This text doesn’t represent monetary recommendation or recommendation of any sort. Coin Version just isn’t liable for any losses incurred on account of the usage of the content material, merchandise, or companies talked about. We encourage our readers to do their due diligence earlier than taking any motion associated to our firm.
