On May 30, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin emphasized the need for cultural awareness and warned about the prevalence of scams in the cryptocurrency industry. He alerted users to the deceptive use of common terms, which can have different meanings in the crypto world compared to other fields.
In a recent post on Farcaster, Buterin stressed the importance of understanding language nuances in the crypto industry. He explained that in many European languages, “actual” means “current” and “concurrency” means “competition.” In crypto, terms like “DAO” often mean “project” and “official” can sometimes imply “scam.” This shows how words can vary in meaning based on context and cultural background.
Buterin Discusses Fraudulent Activities with Fake Accounts
Buterin’s statement came after recent incidents involving fake accounts of well-known crypto influencers and celebrities. On May 26, scammers impersonated the X account of GCR, a prominent crypto influencer, to promote ORDI and Luna 2.0 memecoins, causing their prices to surge temporarily by 6% and 274%, respectively.
Similarly, the official X accounts of rapper Rich the Kid and media personality Caitlyn Jenner were compromised. In the case of Rich the Kid, a new token called $RICH was created on the Solana memecoin launchpad pump.fun and promoted on X. The token quickly reached a $90K market cap within two minutes before sharply declining.
Caitlyn Jenner’s account was used to promote a meme coin named $JENNER, which saw its market cap rise to $22 million based on data from Raydium and GeckoTerminal. These promotions became controversial as the teams behind them were accused of scamming, exploiting followers for liquidity, and unethical behavior.
Regulatory Agencies Issue Warnings on Crypto Investments
Buterin’s insights align with a warning issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 29. The SEC highlighted the risks of making cryptocurrency investment decisions based solely on information from online sources and social media. The notice advised investors to conduct thorough research before making any investment decisions in the cryptocurrency sector.
Similarly, on May 28, Canada issued a warning about the rise of pig butchering and crypto investment scams targeting its citizens. These scams often involve fraudsters building fake relationships with their victims to deceive them into making significant investments in fraudulent schemes.