A new type of shills similar to ICO scammers, this is called Key Opinion Leaders

[bbc.reporter]

Everyone should be careful of this new type of scammer. Bitboy is mentioned in this article, however, everyone knows already that he is a shill. Everyone will avoid him. However, there are influencers in social media that are less clear to be doing a type of scam where they create a community of followers. These projects are funded by venture capitalists and they will be listed in exchanges with only a small portion of the total supply is circulating but the fully diluted valuation is very high with more than $5 billion. These projects follow the distribution model of Sam Bankman Fried's projects before FTX's collapse hehehe.

Small minnows should avoid these because venture capitalists and these key opinion leaders will only dump on your faces with your mouths open. They have bought their tokens through private funding rounds and they will be in profit when these tokens are listed.



Unlike paid shills of yore, "key opinion leaders" invest in the projects they promote on social media. In return for buzz, they can sell tokens sooner than other investors.

Crypto founders have long relied on Silicon Valley-style investors to fund their risky ideas. But in the last few months, venture capitalists and angel investors have given way to a new breed of influencer-turned-investor: the KOL.

Key Opinion Leaders flood the social media feeds of global crypto users with "alpha" about which protocols to watch and invest in. They can be as pseudonymous as a cartoon penguin or as recognizable as a YouTube personality.

A CoinDesk review of KOL fundraising found a budding economy of influencers who write checks for crypto startups and then promote them to thousands of retail traders on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). Projects are betting KOLs will help attract users and, critically, eager buyers before they issue their tokens.

KOL rounds are a twist on the paid shills of earlier crypto cycles, those high-flying influencers like Ben Armstrong (aka BitBoy Crypto) who charged tens of thousands of dollars to promote tokens to massive online audiences. Instead of billing projects for their services, KOLs now put money in them – albeit on very generous terms. Those terms include discounted valuations and options to sell tokens sooner than other private investors are allowed to.

Read in full https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/09/inside-cryptos-kol-economy-influencer-investors-get-special-treatment-in-token-deals/

[bluebit25]

The excitement of the bull season with its hyped terms accompanies the influencers this game will continue until the greed and ignorance of the newbies, but the process is the same time brings access but in an unhealthy way.

I also know some people who have gone into hiding from the old cycles and have not shown any signs of returning (maybe captured, killed, or enjoyed....) and in the next time perhaps other new forms will continue to be distributed. In general, even influencers are willing to create plays to deceive trust, and with the current stage of social media development, there is always an organizational system that helps someone become an influencer fame + some AI tools make them seen as a financial expert actor.

[electronicash]

they still circumvent SEC regulations and this KOL is like part of the team, the ones selling their tokens to the retail investors who are probably the first in the exchange to dump their tokens. they are just like the paid shills actually, i don't know why the article says otherwise but in the time of John McAfee, peace be upon him, they also shill tokens but are paid in BTC, USD and the token they shill as well.

Gernsler can easily subpoena Stacy Muur but not those huge guys.

[bbc.reporter]

The excitement of the bull season with its hyped terms accompanies the influencers this game will continue until the greed and ignorance of the newbies, but the process is the same time brings access but in an unhealthy way.

I also know some people who have gone into hiding from the old cycles and have not shown any signs of returning (maybe captured, killed, or enjoyed....) and in the next time perhaps other new forms will continue to be distributed. In general, even influencers are willing to create plays to deceive trust, and with the current stage of social media development, there is always an organizational system that helps someone become an influencer fame + some AI tools make them seen as a financial expert actor.

This is a cat and mouse game where we should know who is scamming who hehehe. I reckon that on the finish line of the bull market, there will be more skeptical people than there was during 2022. On the ICO hype, we knew that their creators were the scammers, however, on these influencers and KOLs, they are pretending go be a community member who brings everyone the correct information heheeh. They are a different type of scammer.

Can anyone share which projects and which are the key opinion leaders they are using? These influencers are very active in Telegram, I reckon. There are other projects that have secret channels where they plan their activities.

[goldkingcoiner]

Aren't "Key Opinion Leaders" just influencers under a difference name? That seems to be the case, to me.

I would never trust any influencer, no matter what they say or do. They only have one agenda: to make money from promoting something. You cannot really put your trust into someone like that.

[rodskee]

Aren't "Key Opinion Leaders" just influencers under a difference name? That seems to be the case, to me.

I would never trust any influencer, no matter what they say or do. They only have one agenda: to make money from promoting something. You cannot really put your trust into someone like that.

totally agreed in this because this past years I find influencer caring nothing about their
followers and viewers but they are just for one thing and that is to bag money from those
company that will pay them no matter what they bring to their followers.
and from this I am now starting to unfollow or even blocking many of them because of their
involvement in Gambling that we knew a not so best interest and now with investments?
lol I will never fall into their traps.

[ryzaadit]

-snip

Could be the one who are handle all the things or provided information for the (KOL).

Yes, mostly are them. So, in case project are contacting these kind of provider usually they already got a few (KOL) list and the project are easily getting some data from them without needed to reached some people.

They also taken some portion allocation as well.

[bluebit25]

The excitement of the bull season with its hyped terms accompanies the influencers this game will continue until the greed and ignorance of the newbies, but the process is the same time brings access but in an unhealthy way.

I also know some people who have gone into hiding from the old cycles and have not shown any signs of returning (maybe captured, killed, or enjoyed....) and in the next time perhaps other new forms will continue to be distributed. In general, even influencers are willing to create plays to deceive trust, and with the current stage of social media development, there is always an organizational system that helps someone become an influencer fame + some AI tools make them seen as a financial expert actor.

This is a cat and mouse game where we should know who is scamming who hehehe. I reckon that on the finish line of the bull market, there will be more skeptical people than there was during 2022. On the ICO hype, we knew that their creators were the scammers, however, on these influencers and KOLs, they are pretending go be a community member who brings everyone the correct information heheeh. They are a different type of scammer.

Can anyone share which projects and which are the key opinion leaders they are using? These influencers are very active in Telegram, I reckon. There are other projects that have secret channels where they plan their activities.

Yep, in the situation where I encountered newbies approaching the crypto market, they were initially skeptical and sought advice from a number of sources, but unintentionally led them to what they wanted. Perhaps their journey needs to go through that, in the dark locality there are new characters appearing by attracting attention with information dramas with real people sharing market information, fake appearances is also unavoidable and it seems that at some point they will also feel the opposite of fame.

Anyway, with the experiences that I know, I hope people will walk on their own feet without depending on someone, but what is important is what they receive through the experience that everything is perfect even when witnessing a series of deceptions.

[muncuss]

This is a cat and mouse game where we should know who is scamming who hehehe. I reckon that on the finish line of the bull market, there will be more skeptical people than there was during 2022. On the ICO hype, we knew that their creators were the scammers, however, on these influencers and KOLs, they are pretending go be a community member who brings everyone the correct information heheeh. They are a different type of scammer.

Can anyone share which projects and which are the key opinion leaders they are using? These influencers are very active in Telegram, I reckon. There are other projects that have secret channels where they plan their activities.

i see, so now it is "those" influencer. I follow some of them on twitter, and if im not wrong i once read that one of them indeed scamming their follower

[Bureau]

Isn't something like this has been happening for a long time now. Key opinion leaders if I remember correctly was introduced by a few projects before 2021. They were the one who were hired by crypto projects to bring in their influence network. It is known fact and it is something that has been on going and I don't think it is new in crypto space.

[bbc.reporter]

Aren't "Key Opinion Leaders" just influencers under a difference name? That seems to be the case, to me.

I would never trust any influencer, no matter what they say or do. They only have one agenda: to make money from promoting something. You cannot really put your trust into someone like that.

Yes, they are people who have many followers in social media which make it appear that they have good opinions on different occurrences and on the direction on where the cryptospace goes. However, they are only people chosen by the project and given an allocation of tokens with a cheaper price which will be on 2x or more on listing on CEX or DEX. This is very much similar to the ICO scams again.

Also, there are people who have gotten an allocation of tokens before the influencers, these are the venture capitalists! What are the biggest funded projects in the cryptospace that are new and that have not released a token? These projects might become the biggest scammers on 2025 or 2026.

[jrrsparkles]

Aren't "Key Opinion Leaders" just influencers under a difference name? That seems to be the case, to me.

I would never trust any influencer, no matter what they say or do. They only have one agenda: to make money from promoting something. You cannot really put your trust into someone like that.

Yes, they are people who have many followers in social media which make it appear that they have good opinions on different occurrences and on the direction on where the cryptospace goes. However, they are only people chosen by the project and given an allocation of tokens with a cheaper price which will be on 2x or more on listing on CEX or DEX. This is very much similar to the ICO scams again.

Also, there are people who have gotten an allocation of tokens before the influencers, these are the venture capitalists! What are the biggest funded projects in the cryptospace that are new and that have not released a token? These projects might become the biggest scammers on 2025 or 2026.

Why would even want to fund a project when they can create their own for free or just for few hundred bucks.

Jokes apart, the founders or whoever behind these kind of project shilling via social media influencers knew exactly how they going to move their trends and in fact those influencers are just pawn while the real one to blame can't be found no where, they are just invincible and make money by paying some to these influence the dump it when it got listed then move on to new one and this goes on and on for unlimited times.

[batang_bitcoin]

That is the reason if you are an investor, you don't rely to the opinions of the others especially with the social media influencers. It's either they have invested big on that project or they've been paid to advertise it. It's hard to figure out who's the one that are giving you the rightful information with what they've researched or if they have actually done it. Because most of them are in there for the quick bucks and you'll be the sacrificial lamb for it.

[bitterguy28]

That is the reason if you are an investor, you don't rely to the opinions of the others especially with the social media influencers. It's either they have invested big on that project or they've been paid to advertise it. It's hard to figure out who's the one that are giving you the rightful information with what they've researched or if they have actually done it. Because most of them are in there for the quick bucks and you'll be the sacrificial lamb for it.

Social media influencer nowadays are mostly liar , they will do anything just to earn from their referral links and their promoted  company/projects .
ICO back in the days have victimized tons of investors and gather millions and even billions if data is correct .
best to ask this forum first for what is the future of those new project you wanted to invest.
hoping that there will never be a victim of this new scam strategy .

[God bless u]

Everyone should be careful of this new type of scammer. Bitboy is mentioned in this article, however, everyone knows already that he is a shill. Everyone will avoid him. However, there are influencers in social media that are less clear to be doing a type of scam where they create a community of followers. These projects are funded by venture capitalists and they will be listed in exchanges with only a small portion of the total supply is circulating but the fully diluted valuation is very high with more than $5 billion. These projects follow the distribution model of Sam Bankman Fried's projects before FTX's collapse hehehe.

Small minnows should avoid these because venture capitalists and these key opinion leaders will only dump on your faces with your mouths open. They have bought their tokens through private funding rounds and they will be in profit when these tokens are listed.



Unlike paid shills of yore, "key opinion leaders" invest in the projects they promote on social media. In return for buzz, they can sell tokens sooner than other investors.

Crypto founders have long relied on Silicon Valley-style investors to fund their risky ideas. But in the last few months, venture capitalists and angel investors have given way to a new breed of influencer-turned-investor: the KOL.

Key Opinion Leaders flood the social media feeds of global crypto users with "alpha" about which protocols to watch and invest in. They can be as pseudonymous as a cartoon penguin or as recognizable as a YouTube personality.

A CoinDesk review of KOL fundraising found a budding economy of influencers who write checks for crypto startups and then promote them to thousands of retail traders on YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). Projects are betting KOLs will help attract users and, critically, eager buyers before they issue their tokens.

KOL rounds are a twist on the paid shills of earlier crypto cycles, those high-flying influencers like Ben Armstrong (aka BitBoy Crypto) who charged tens of thousands of dollars to promote tokens to massive online audiences. Instead of billing projects for their services, KOLs now put money in them – albeit on very generous terms. Those terms include discounted valuations and options to sell tokens sooner than other private investors are allowed to.

Read in full https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/05/09/inside-cryptos-kol-economy-influencer-investors-get-special-treatment-in-token-deals/

These kind of accounts and influencers have been increased so much in the past couple of years once the fake followers services gained popularity among people. They pay social media accounts for the reach that they get on their videos and pictures because dummy followers don't get the reach that you want.

Social media apps can easily block these kind of users but they don't want to because they get paid to promote their reels and pictures. They don't care about the scams that people are dragged in.

[batang_bitcoin]

That is the reason if you are an investor, you don't rely to the opinions of the others especially with the social media influencers. It's either they have invested big on that project or they've been paid to advertise it. It's hard to figure out who's the one that are giving you the rightful information with what they've researched or if they have actually done it. Because most of them are in there for the quick bucks and you'll be the sacrificial lamb for it.

Social media influencer nowadays are mostly liar , they will do anything just to earn from their referral links and their promoted  company/projects .
ICO back in the days have victimized tons of investors and gather millions and even billions if data is correct .

I wouldn't say all but yeah, most of them and many of them are starting to sell their souls for the talent fees that are paid to them. And them being called KOL is something new but it's not different from a shilling leader.

best to ask this forum first for what is the future of those new project you wanted to invest.
hoping that there will never be a victim of this new scam strategy .

There is no other best place to ask that and get most of the informative threads but here about such projects.

[goaldigger]

That is the reason if you are an investor, you don't rely to the opinions of the others especially with the social media influencers. It's either they have invested big on that project or they've been paid to advertise it. It's hard to figure out who's the one that are giving you the rightful information with what they've researched or if they have actually done it. Because most of them are in there for the quick bucks and you'll be the sacrificial lamb for it.

That’s true and you have to do your own research or else you will fall for this kind of trap. If you want to invest on a new project, the effort usually high and the risk are higher as you are going to deal with the project that is not established yet. The hype will always be there so expect that every new project will be hype by their own community by just attracting new investors or we can say new victim.

[Freddie Boyer]

That’s true and you have to do your own research or else you will fall for this kind of trap. If you want to invest on a new project, the effort usually high and the risk are higher as you are going to deal with the project that is not established yet. The hype will always be there so expect that every new project will be hype by their own community by just attracting new investors or we can say new victim.

and your opinion above is also quite reasonable. They always try to create hype as if it will last a long time and the tactics used are quite a lot to move prices and make investors come buy.

I think, whether it is new or old, we need further market analysis before entering and trading so that as you said above, we don't get stuck in a traffic jam.

[bbc.reporter]

Aren't "Key Opinion Leaders" just influencers under a difference name? That seems to be the case, to me.

I would never trust any influencer, no matter what they say or do. They only have one agenda: to make money from promoting something. You cannot really put your trust into someone like that.

Yes, they are people who have many followers in social media which make it appear that they have good opinions on different occurrences and on the direction on where the cryptospace goes. However, they are only people chosen by the project and given an allocation of tokens with a cheaper price which will be on 2x or more on listing on CEX or DEX. This is very much similar to the ICO scams again.

Also, there are people who have gotten an allocation of tokens before the influencers, these are the venture capitalists! What are the biggest funded projects in the cryptospace that are new and that have not released a token? These projects might become the biggest scammers on 2025 or 2026.

Why would even want to fund a project when they can create their own for free or just for few hundred bucks.

Jokes apart, the founders or whoever behind these kind of project shilling via social media influencers knew exactly how they going to move their trends and in fact those influencers are just pawn while the real one to blame can't be found no where, they are just invincible and make money by paying some to these influence the dump it when it got listed then move on to new one and this goes on and on for unlimited times.

Did you read the article before you created your reply? These key opinion leaders are only pawns. They are the earliest of investors in a project. They are also earlier than some venture capitalists, I reckon. When the project is listed on a DEX or a CEX, the price of the token from the seed investment is more than 5x already and very much ready for dumping on our faces after the hype that they have created on social media hehehehehe.

I ask everyone, what is your favorite new project that has not yet released a token and that is also very hyped on twitter? If it is very hyped, we can be quite certain there are key opinion leaders behind this that are ready to dump on your face.