A new trend where social media influencers ask for Ether (ETH) in exchange for nothing has taken over Twitter, grabbing the attention of many onlookers. The trend sparked various theories, from being a publicity play to money laundering.
Attempting to get a slice of some of the recent “memecoin magic,” an influencer tried to promote their wallet address and promised to deliver nothing. A wallet address called “yougetnothing.eth” has received more than $1 million worth of ETH in the 24 hours since it was created.
With the address receiving a lot of funds, many other social media accounts attempted to do the same, hoping to get some ETH for themselves. One asked for ETH to buy a nonfungible token, while another promised to spend it all on “hookers and cocaine.“
Amid the trend, many others deployed satire and started to promote an Ethereum burn wallet, making fun of people who may be sending their funds to random addresses.
Raised 0 eth (0%)
Ordering a new life once I reach $1,000,000 so my life can change
Send me eth: 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
(You get nothing in return. This is a donation)
— Emperor.SOL (@Solana_Emperor) May 30, 2023
Meanwhile, another influencer claimed they did it as an experiment and only had one person donate to them. The social media account concluded that this trend was a strategy to get traction and attention by sending ETH to themselves.
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On Reddit, the trend received negative feedback from the community. A Redditor highlighted that the Twitter account only had around 68,000 followers and did not believe the funds were from the community. The Reddit user suggested it could be a money laundering attempt, where “dirty ETH” are being sent as donations.
Another community member shared that one of the accounts was only a week old and had received 544 ETH from an exchange that didn’t require Know Your Customer checks. Furthermore, the community member suggested that there seemed to be a pattern in the donation amounts.
On May 31, former United States Securities and Exchange Commission chief John Reed Stark sent a warning to social media influencers who manipulate crypto prices. According to Stark, these influencers will eventually be caught and face penalties.
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