Crypto influencers allegedly weaponize conspiracies to fleece QAnon followers

June 22, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Mixing conspiracy theories, a distrust for traditional institutions and hopium in crypto, two influencers are alleged to have made millions using pump-and-dump schemes.

Two QAnon-affiliated conspiracy theorist influencers allegedly caused their followers millions of dollars in losses by running a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme.

The pair reportedly persuaded their thousands of followers to invest in a portfolio of cryptos, presenting a misleading mix of conspiratorial and genuine content along with claims about institutions backing the tokens to generate hype and raise the price of the portfolio.

The allegations are included in an investigation by Logically, a group of data scientists and developers. It reported the two influencers running the Telegram channels “WhipLash347” and the “Quantum Stellar Initiative” (QSI) coordinated to promote lists of Stellar (XLM) altcoins which have been marked as fraudulent by the Stellar network.

WhipLash347 is a Telegram group with 277,000 followers and QSI has 35,000. They reportedly told their followers the cryptocurrencies would succeed based on their insider knowledge, claiming they had access to secret military intelligence.

The publication said the two mixed conspiratorial content and misinformation to target those distrusting of mainstream financial and media institutions to give authenticity to the cryptocurrencies they promoted. The losses are believed to be in the millions, and Logically claimed one man committed suicide after losing $100,000 in the scheme.

A user known as PatriotQakes, leads the QSI main channel, which has multiple regional affiliates. The ownership of the WhipLash347 account is believed to have changed hands more recently due to changed behavior.

Rocky Morningside, a former admin of the QSI group told Logically he believes that “without doubt that WhipLash347, PatriotQakes, and QSI are scam artists,” who were promoting “pump and dumps.”

Cointelegraph requested a response to the allegations from PatriotQakes, an account seemingly belonging to the person behind Whiplash347 and an admin of a regional QSI group regarding the allegations but did not receive a reply by the time of publication.

Neither of the groups have publicly acknowledged or responded to the allegations.

A former investor in one of the schemes using the name “Cutter” now runs a Twitter account aimed at exposing WhipLash347. He told Cointelegraph that he is a member of a Telegram group with 3000 other disgruntled investors and said of the person behind WhipLash347:

“He’s created a huge list of crypto’s with now dead domains, as well as bogus white papers claiming to be affiliated with real companies. We’ve talked to so many of the coins’ real creators that he mimics through copycat assets who have to continually tell people WhipLash is full of shit.”

Cutter says WhipLash creates trust with his followers through sharing similar political views, perpetuating the scheme by claiming “upcoming events” will cause the value of the assets to skyrocket.

According to Cutter, WhipLash responded to the claims by saying all information is under non-disclosure agreements and anybody affiliated with the assets isn’t allowed to talk until the “event”.

“There’s always a timeline, but when the dates pass and nothing happens, he creates new timelines. It’s never ending.”

He also apparently claimed to be in communication with figures like Elon Musk, and said the crypto-friendly billionaire backs the cryptocurrencies WhipLash is promoting.

Cutter said that anyone raising questions is kicked out of the group.

“Anyone who questions his narrative is removed from his Telegram group, and he continues to rinse and repeat among his followers. As people exit, new people join. It needs to stop.”

World’s biggest douchebag releases NFT collection

December 17, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Forget all the hype over genuinely revolutionary technology and creative magic. Douchebags are here to ruin the NFT party for everyone!

Around the world, douchebags are getting into NFTs in a big way.

Now it’s true that there are thousands and thousands of legitimate artists in the growing non-fungible token space, and that precisely none of them are Paris Hilton.

And sure, NFTs are a potentially world-changing phenomenon that were just declared ArtReview’s most powerful entity in the art world, though probably not as a result of the “catastrophic failure” that resulted in John Cena selling just 37 sad copies of a one thousand-NFT drop.

There may indeed be all kinds of use-cases for NFTs — such as the censorship-proof preservation of historical records — that will cause future generations to wonder why it took us so long.

But don’t let any of these important developments detract from the absolute douchebaggery that’s currently being unleashed on the world by people like Jacob Chansley.

You remember Jacob, right? This guy.

Yep, the guy who participated in an insurrection designed to prevent the certification of a duly-elected President in a peaceful democracy has released a talentless, money-grabbing, opportunistic-weasel collection of excruciating tat, hoping to cash in on his brief moment of notoriety while he rots in prison for the next 41 months.

Chansley’s collection of 1,006 Shamans is billed by his PR rep (insurrectionists get PR reps?) as an opportunity for buyers to join “a community of individuals intrigued by the intersection of politics, crypto, media, tribalism, and Shamanic culture.”

It is not billed as “A criminal douchebag trying to snatch your cash using only the power of absolutely shameless exploitation”. But you say tomato.

The collection itself is intriguing, in much the same way that you might wonder why multi-colored foods go in… and yet they all come out the same color.

Chansley has a variety of douchey costumes that go with his insurrectionist character ‘QAnon Shaman’ — one being a horned fur hat, another being an orange jumpsuit. Sadly the latter doesn’t seem to make an appearance in the hackneyed, half-assed and derivative collection of behorned cartoons.

The majority of these lazy and unimaginative illustrations appear to have been created “under exclusive license” by an “anonymous artist”, which should excite collectors everywhere.

The press release, which has far more artistic merit, notes that the series contains “never before seen images of Jacob donning crypto apparel” and — get this! — that it “exists to spark a productive and thoughtful discourse.” Because of course it does.

Cointelegraph reached out for further comment to Chansley’s press representative after receiving this intriguing message: “Happy to provide more quotes and context from Jacob and his mother if you’re interested in covering this”.

Yep, if there’s one person we want to talk to more than the QAnon Shaman, it’s his mom.

The collection is out there somewhere, although I’ll be damned if I’m going to link to it. But have at it, if you must — just remember that if you’re buying an NFT to support a crazed right-wing conspiracy theorist and Trumpian lunatic… he later expressed disappointment in Trump.

And that's despite his lawyer's insistence that Chansley "had a fondness for Trump that was not unlike the first love a man may have for a girl, or a girl for a man, or man for a man." Oddly that doesn't seem to be illustrated either, though it's worth speculating on what it might look like.

Still, you could always buy Melania’s cobalt eyes.

Nifty News: Snoop’s $17M NFT collection, movie sold as NFT, QAnon espouser sells tweets

September 22, 2021 Coin Telegraph

<div>Nifty News: Snoop's M NFT collection, movie sold as NFT, QAnon espouser sells tweets</div>

Coin Telegraph

NFT collector revealed to be Snoop Dogg, hybrid NFTs are coming, and an investor lost $300,000 in tokens to hackers.

Hip-hop icon Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr., also known as Snoop Dogg, has revealed himself to be the pseudonymous NFT collector “Cozomo de’ Medici.”

While Snoop has not provided further clarification beyond a Sept. 21 tweet unveiling his digital identity, Medici’s NFT wallet is worth roughly $17.6 million, according to DappRadar.

Snoop’s collection features a long list of NFTs, including highly sought-after CryptoPunks, Meebits and Art Blocks tokens.

Snoop’s CryptoPunks represent most of his portfolio’s monetary value, with the tokens estimated to be worth $13.19 million. The collection includes CryptoPunk #3831, which depicts a green alien wearing shades and sunglasses that is estimated to be valued at $5 million

While Snoop’s reveal could comprise clever marketing designed to garner some of the limelight being shone on the surging NFT markets, Cozomo’s Twitter account posted a thread five minutes before Snoop made the reveal claiming that they would soon dox themselves using their personal account.

“As my fame is considerable, the tweet will no doubt be discovered,” they said.

Those who do not care, or simply prefer to not know the source of my vast fame and fortune, may simply not research.

I will keep this account focused on NFTs, and not mention this again here.

⚔️ ~CdM
— Cozomo de’ Medici (@CozomoMedici) September 20, 2021

This isn’t Snoop Dogg’s first foray into the nonfungible sector, as the cannabinoid enthusiast previously collaborated with the artist behind the Nyan Cat meme to drop “Nyan Dogg” NFTs on 4/20 (a day sacred among smokers) earlier this year.

NFT collector’s clumsy security practices lead to $294K worth of stolen NFTs

An NFT collector who goes by the name “Baccredited” on Twitter stated that hackers swiped $375,000 worth of NFTs and tokens from two of their Ethereum wallets.

In a Sept. 21 tweet, the victim tallied their losses, concluding that $294,000 worth of NFTs and $81,000 worth of crypto tokens had been stolen from their accounts.

Baccredited noted that while they don't know exactly how the hackers gained access to their wallets, their private keys and seed phrases had been stored in txt files on their computer, stating:

"I know how stupid I was. $375K worth of stupid. I put private keys and seed phrases in txt files on my mac's filesystem. That is a bad idea. I didn't use a hardware wallet for high-value assets. I know. I know. I KNOW"

The victim claimed to have NFTs from widely popular collections such as Bored Ape Yacht Club, Art Blocks, Meebits and Pudgy Penguins, marking an expensive lesson in private data storage for the collector.

“Wow, compiling this particular list did NOT feel good AT ALL,” they added.

Feature Film and Hybrid NFTs

Blockchain-based metaverse tech firm Marvion is dropping “Hyrbid NFTs” (h-NFTs) in partnership with Phoenix Waters Productions and AMM Global as part of the release of an upcoming feature film named “Lockdown.”

According to Marvion, a Hybrid NFT is an integrated "smart contract that can execute a transaction and also contains the specific legal terms of the intellectual property ownership and license.”

The first drop will include five limited editions h-NFTs that will be issued a month before the Lockdown premiers in November. The h-NFTs will depict content from the movie, while the firm is also touting the drop of tokenized tickets for viewers who attend live screenings in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.

The plot of Lockdown follows the story of an actor who partakes in an audition where the casting director forces them to pass a series of tests to stop someone around him from being killed. The cast includes Xander Berkeley, known for his roles in Terminator 2 and The Walking Dead, and Hong Kong actress Anita Chui.

The specific details of the h-NFT s will be announced in the coming weeks.

A tokenized QAnon conspiracy?

Ron Watkins, who is believed to be one of the original espousers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, has announced he will launch an NFT collection via auction to fund a “critical project” that he says will “save America.”

The collection consists of five tokenized tweets from Watkins that were retweeted by Donald Trump prior to the pair being banned from the platform earlier this year.

“A few weeks ago, I decided to start working on a secret project that I feel will help save America. To help raise funds I'm selling a collection of five of my tweets that were retweeted by President Trump as special Non-Fungible-Tokens,” Watkins told the 429,000 members of his Telegram group.

The collection is dubbed the “CodeMonkeyZ Freedom Series,” with the first of the series’ five NFTs currently up for auction on OpenSea. Details about the “critical project” are yet to be revealed.

Roundup

Cointelegraph reported on Sept. 21 that Sorare, a marketplace for tokenized soccer trading cards, raised $680 million in a Series B funding round led by Japanese fintech giant SoftBank.

Professional wrestler and actor John Cena said fans only purchased 7.4% of his World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) NFTs that were dropped last month. Cena called it a “catastrophic failure” as he cited the price points of the NFTs as being too high for fans.