An in-depth look at the rise of influencers, from Kim Kardashian to FaZe Clan and Elon Musk, using their huge platforms to promote altcoins to fans
Known for their pranks, parties and crude humor, the YouTubers are used to getting in trouble. Patricia Hernandez / Kotaku : Faze Clan Members Skewered By Fans Following Huge Crypto Losses Tweets: Nelly / @latenightnelly : There really needs to be regulations on crypto man does like no one see how rich people and companies are just using it to fleece people? https://twitter.com/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : These influencer-promoted altcoin crypto scams are out of control, so rampant https://mashable.com/... Stephen Diehl / @smdiehl : Lots of great “technical innovation” going on here with thousands of TikTok crypto pyramid schemes. There are no redeeming qualities of any of this. https://mashable.com/... @anildash : straight up scamming kids. https://twitter.com/... Bianca Healey / @biancahealey : “I was shocked someone at the SEC asked me if I had heard of any Ethereum-based pyramid schemes,” Marie Spring, an expert on Ponzi schemes explained to me. “I said they're around all the time...all you have to do is follow the cryptocurrency exchanges.” https://twitter.com/... Jameson / @jamesonstarship : Considering the sheer scale of fraud and theft in the crypto scene it's mind blowing that it's barely covered in that way. Glad Matt is on the case. https://twitter.com/... @kimcrayton1 : Tech is not neutral nor apolitical AND a lot about the cryptocurrency space borders on unethical, if not downright illegal, related to invented & inflated value It also highlights how certain folx have always benefited in this space solely by taking advantage of others https://twitter.com/... Matt Binder / @mattbinder : popular Twitch streamer Adin Ross urged his fans to invest in “MILF Token” weeks later on his livestream he laughed at the idea that anyone would buy “that shit” “I got paid a bag...I hope none of you guys actually bought it” https://twitter.com/... https://mashable.com/... Matt Binder / @mattbinder : FaZe Clan is on top of the world right now, becoming the first esports group to grace the cover of Sports Illustrated... so why do so many of them constantly pump risky altcoins to their young fanbase and then delete their promos when the coin tanks? https://mashable.com/... Matt Binder / @mattbinder : been working on this one for a while now... why are so many influencers pushing altcoins on their loyal fans? why does almost everyone but these influencers end up losing money? new from me: Inside the shady world of influencers promoting cryptocurrency https://mashable.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The FaZe Clan story sits at the intersection of two arcs the coverage has tracked for years. The influencer-marketing industry was already a paid machine by 2018, with brands shelling out $60K+ for a single video review or $85K+ to disparage a competitor (Wired's look at influencer marketing rates), and Instagram traders were already posing as self-made wealthy to funnel teens into affiliate schemes before crypto became the product.
First-order effects
- FaZe Clan members promoted risky altcoins to young fans and deleted the posts once the coins tanked, leaving holders — many of them the esports org's core audience — with losses and prompting fan backlash, while streamer Adin Ross later indicated he was paid to urge fans into MILF Token.
Second-order effects
- The promotion has professionalized into a market of paid influencers and middlemen like Dapp Centre coordinating campaigns that sometimes push the limits of US law (VICE's look at the crypto promotion market), and after the 2022 sell-off, celebrities faced criticism for hyping coins without disclosing risks just as exchanges like Crypto.com and FTX scaled back ad spending (the celebrity-hyping backlash).
Third-order effects
- With the SEC already an entity in this story and even FTX's own CEO conceding that calling yield-farming a Ponzi is a "pretty reasonable response" (Bankman-Fried's podcast remarks), the pattern points toward disclosure and promotion rules for paid token endorsements — the same regulatory perimeter that governs securities touting extended to social media crypto shilling.
The trend: Influencer marketing's paid-campaign machinery is migrating into crypto promotion faster than disclosure rules and exchange ad budgets can keep up with.