You will most likely all know at least someone who mentioned any of these projects and/or platforms so there's no need to do a whole name and shame thing here. As a matter of fact, there are soooo many of them and so many other failed/scam projects and sites that it would be unjust to make such a list because I would definitely miss a few guilty parties as I'm also not up to date on every single failure or rug pull that happens in the crypto sphere. But you know what? I am involved enough and have been around long enough to be able to say this: These crypto misinfluencers are not just a small part of the problem, but they are equally responsible. There, someone had to say it out loud and I DGAF about their sincerely good or naive intentions, after all, what's the road to hell paved with again?
I said not financial advice, so yeah, it's all your own fault
It may sound harsh but I sincerely believe that the bubble that grew so big in all the wrong places, did so for a large part because of them. To me, these misinfluencers are nothing more than an elaborate and more subtle, indirect way to approach what ponzi scams such as ACN call "working a warm market by introducing the product to your friends and family". Every time anyone opens their "social media" and sees these people shilling something and saying nonsense like "It's called Celsius you guys, I've been using it myself so it's totally trustworthy, also be sure to use my referral in the link below and get even more discount", they are jumping aboard the sinking ship, whether the misinfluencer knew about the risky centralized and internal dubious activities or not.
Why? Let me elaborate in three separate points: If you didn't know that e.g. Celsius was centralized and that people did not hold your keys and thus something like this could happen, what dafuq do you even know then? Certainly not anything about the crypto sphere, so why preach about it? Secondly, if you introduce something like this to your friends, family or followers (yes, I mashed those three together because that's how you should be viewing them when playing with their money by introducing shady projects) you have a responsibility to have researched it in-depth beforehand, keep up to date on them and their activities afterwards and share that info with the rest. Third, last and probably most damning, you got paid by them to mention them to your community!
This is being rather mild I think, I didn't even mention the agreements these misinfluencers sign and details they are not allowed to disclose and mention to their community. At least with the ACN scam your newly acquired prospects could outperform you and move up the ladder, a characteristic which de facto made it less ponzi and allowed them to operate in Europe and actually establish their semi-ponzi headquarters there. With the example of Celsius, your followers had none of that. You got paid massively for pushing it on the people around you, they got some measly little discount via your referral which actually even made you more money, and on top of that you got the "social media" money from their views and clicks. Seriously, it's a 'win a lot, lose a little' scenario for themselves and a 'win a little, lose every last cent you put in' for everyone else. Plus the fact that with ACN your friends and family would turn to you directly face-to-face when they found out about the hidden fees or low earnings which actually made them lose money annually instead of make money. With these misinfluencers, all people can do is unfollow and leave angry comments that will mostly fade away in thousands of other comments.
A personal story
Like many others who are too polite to say fook off to your friends, I had to listen to one of those ACN goons who was some sort of medium-high ranking guy that came to give a presentation at a friend's house years ago. It smelled like a scam from the get-go but that's not the point. One year after that, everyone who had signed up lost money and quit, no one paid the renewal fee which they didn't even knew existed because the presentation clearly stated a one time fee of approximately 500 Euros. But now, another friend of mine wanted my attention and introduce me to a successful business opportunity. "Dear gawd, not this ACN scam thingy again" I thought, but turns out I was wrong, well sort of.
We had a private meeting with three of his new business partners at some hotel lobby and upon arrival, they offered us drinks. Not coffee, water or juice, no they offered the scam itself which was called Vemma. Some sort of supplement health drink thingy that apparently many top athletes drank and we could have access to and distribute to people and earn revenue. "Hmmm OK, weird, but this may not be the same thing as ACN so let's hear them out" I thought and ironically enough, the scammers who sucked my friend into Vemma knew of ACN of course and actually used the punch line "we are not like ACN". But alas, it was. At the time I had direct contact with the CEO of one of Europe's largest supermarket chains and I thought it could be jackpot for me if I could just get the Vemma product details and certificates, forward it to him and see if the product was allowed in Europe and if he was willing to sell it at the countless locations he managed. When the Vemma gang told me "Ohh, yeah, nah, that's not how you will earn the most money, it's meant as a direct sale from you to your community, which will then earn you the best revenue if people in your community become distributors as well and create their own community", I knew it was time to just politely smile till they buzzed off and I could tell my friend to get out and not put a single cent into it.
A trip down memory pain
Getting back to crypto, these debacles always remind of that Bitconnect and "crypto-Nick" guy. Remember that joke?😂 That boy was like 16 or something and "advising" people on crypto and particularly Bitconnect. When the coin/site ceased to exist and people lost everything, he was like "wow guys, times are so tough, I lost a lot of money as well, I'm totally not in on it or anything, look my account had 1 million Dollars when they closed withdrawals so I am even more down than most you guys". Uhhh yeah, except for the fact you earned over 5 million Dollars in referral fees from the site/coin which you were partnered with and shilled to thousands of people.
It may sound harsh but that's how I've been viewing these "crypto influencers" ever since: Just a whole new breed of crypto-Nicks. I know it's not entirely fair of course but you know what? I've been much, much better off for it. Well, except for the fact that their scams just like Bitconnect brought the entire market down as well, but at least our holdings live on to lose another day, their followers who opted for Luna, Celsius, Blockfi (etc) are out of the game altogether.
I should clarify though that there are good people out there as well. They truly believe in what they research and share and are not paid corrupted individuals but honest and sincere people sharing their views and findings online with their community which they indeed hold equally high as their friends. But it appears that just like how it's difficult to find honest and trustworthy cryptos, these people are increasingly being pushed to the background as well in favor of fake hyped up characters who can put on the best show. Long live the "social media" algorithm.🙄
