Crypto proponents are criticizing Bitcoin billionaire and venture capitalist Brock Pierce for endorsing a potential crypto scam run by EXW Wallet.
Despite several warnings regarding fraudulent virtual currency schemes, naive investors are still falling victim to elaborate crypto scams sometimes promoted by well-known figures in the industry.
Many of these fraudulent schemes seem to follow the same premise — invest in a sketchy scheme and receive profits from the admins who claim to be expert traders.
Sometimes, well-known figures in the crypto industry endorse these obvious scams which entice naive investors to deposit their precious virtual currency holdings. In the end, the admins disappear with all the deposits while the crypto celebs delete all mentions of their previous ‘shilling activities.’
EXW Wallet: Another Crypto Scam?
Earlier in January 2020, Pierce appeared as a keynote speaker for a convention held by EXW Wallet to the chagrin to some in the crypto community.
In a post appearing on the cryptocurrency subreddit, a Redditor “doctor-crypto” called EXW Wallet’s investment program a Ponzi scheme and an obvious scam.
EXW Wallets runs a crypto investment scheme with a trading bot the company assures can provide a daily return of 0.33 percent on investments. The firm’s claims are similar to other crypto investment programs deemed to be scams in the past.
Additionally, Crypto Trust Consulting, a listed partner of EXW Wallet claims to be registered in the U.K. However, the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) says it has no records of the company’s registration.
Back in 2019, the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) blacklisted Crypto Trusting Consulting and urged the public to avoid any business dealings with the brokerage firm. According to the FMA, Crypto Trust Consulting offered zero investor protection to its traders.
Virtual Currency OGs Still Shilling Crypto Scams
The possibility of EWX Wallet turning out to be a scam as all indicators suggest also highlights the growing problem of crypto commentators and virtual currency experts shilling crypto scams, inadvertently encouraging naive crypto investors to invest in fraudulent schemes.
Back in December 2019, the bitcoin trader known as ‘LÈON’ disappeared with 53 BTC worth $380,000 by soliciting investments in his BitMEX $BTC fund on Twitter and Telegram. The suspected con artist promised investors a share of the profits from their BTC deposits in the scheme.
After the trader exited the scam, some crypto commentators responded by calling out the naivety of crypto owners and investors, as well as pointing out that a few well-known figures on ‘crypto-twitter’ aided the traders’ investment strategy by endorsing his efforts.
Similar to the EXW Wallet promise of daily returns, ‘PlusToken‘ targeted the Asian market with a wallet service that promised returns on deposits. The crypto scam eventually defrauded investors of some 200,000 BTC and 800,000 ETH totaling almost $3 billion.
Some commentators allege that the BTC dumping by the Plus Token scammers resulting in the negative bitcoin price performance seen in late November 2019.
In 2018, the Belgian Financial Services and Market Authority (FSMA) added 14 domains to its crypto blacklist. The platforms were suspected of fraudulent activities and promoting cryptocurrency scams. Since then the number has increased to well over 113 and counting.
Also, in 2019 Blockonomi reported a high tech Ponzi scheme worth $722 million by fraudulent crypto mining platform ‘BitClub Network’ which operated from April 2014 to December 2019. The scheme promised to pay users for recruiting new users into the program.
