An Instagram post by Kim Kardashian promoting an untested cryptocurrency was flagged in what was probably the “single biggest” financial promotion in history.
The US personality, socialite, and businesswoman Kim Kardashian West, who has over 250 million followers on Instagram, earlier this year asked her followers: “Are you guys into crypto????” The post was, however, flagged as an advertisement by the photo-sharing platform.
“In line with Instagram’s rules, [Kardashian] disclosed that this was an ad,” Charles Randall told the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime on Monday.
“But she didn’t have to disclose that ethereum max – not to be confused with ethereum – was a speculative digital token created a month before by unknown developers – one of hundreds of such tokens that fill the crypto-exchanges.”
Ethereum Max is not connected to Ethereum, which is the world’s second most popular cryptocurrency after bitcoin. Randell stressed that he did not know whether Ethereum Max was a scam.
However, he added that: “Social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation.”
It is unknown how much Kardashian West was paid for the ad, however, she reportedly earns up to $1 million (€842,000) per sponsored post on the platform.
Paris Hilton and DJ Khaled are among the numerous other celebrities to have promoted crypto projects.
Professional boxer Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather also wore an Ethereum Max t-shirt at the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. Mayweather was booed at the event when he said he believes another crypto will be “just as large as bitcoin someday.”
In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined Professional boxer Floyd Mayweather and music producer DJ Khaled for failing to disclose payments they received for promoting initial coin offerings (ICOs). Mayweather paid a total of $614,775 in fines, disgorgement and pre-judgement interest, while DJ Khaled paid $152,745.
Follow our socials Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google News.
