Crypto tip: Don't fall for celebrity crypto pitches

Cryptocurrency is a risky choice of investment. There are thousands of digital currencies out there, and they all share one thing in common: volatility. Your profits can soar or crash at any given moment due to supply and demand, competition, governance and even social media hype.

Beyond the market’s dizzying highs and bottom-of-the-barrel lows, you have to also worry about the security of your crypto. Digital currency can be hacked just like any other digital asset. One investor lost $120,000 worth of crypto due to an errant click. Tap or click here to check out his story.

As with any investment, it’s important to vet your sources when it comes to crypto. And one universal rule is to avoid pitches promoted by celebrities or social media influencers. They’re getting paid to hawk a company’s digital wares, and there’s no way to be sure of their intentions. This recently became the center of a lawsuit involving high-profile celebrities and shady moves.

Before we dive in, this is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency is inherently risky, and you should never invest money you are not willing to lose.

If you can’t trust a celebrity, who can you trust?

You’ve come across celebrities promoting everything from websites to mobile games. With their significant online presence, they can make or break a company. Regardless of which product they’re holding up to the spotlight, you must always be cautious. After all, the celebs get paid no matter what happens.

A-list celebrities are promoting specific cryptocurrencies on social media and TV, and it’s landing them in hot water.

A recently filed class-action lawsuit names reality TV star Kim Kardashian, champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. and former NBA star Paul Pierce as defendants in a crypto-related case. According to the suit, the trio promoted crypto called EthereumMax, which is apparently a knockoff of the well-known Ethereum.

Kardashian posted Instagram Stories related to EthereumMax for her nearly 300 million followers. Mayweather wore shorts with the crypto’s URL during his highly publicized fight with YouTube star Logan Paul last June, among other events such as the Bitcoin 2021 conference in Miami. Pierce took to Twitter to promote the crypto and show off his financial gains.

They took the money and ran

The lawsuit alleges that the celebrities helped raise the copycat crypto’s value before quickly selling off their portion and pocketing the profit. You’ve probably heard of this scheme in the stock market. It recently made headlines during the GameStop meme stock phenomenon.

EthereumMax investors were left holding the bag and were not happy. The company itself was named in the lawsuit and posted its reaction on Twitter in January:

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