James Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast on YouTube, has drawn criticism for his purported participation in dubious cryptocurrency scams.
An investigation by a team of crypto experts claims that Mr. Beast, who is well-known for his charity and extravagant pranks, has made up to $23 million using crypto “pump-and-dump” strategies.
The dispute started earlier this month when SomaXBT, a social media-active crypto investigator, published a report accusing MrBeast of abusing his power in the cryptocurrency industry.
Allegedly, Mr. Beast took advantage of a large following
SomaXBT claims that MrBeast used his large following to raise the value of low-cap Initial DEX Offering (IDO) tokens before profitably selling them. But as the excitement subsided, values fell precipitously.
The results of SomaXBT showed that MrBeast wasn’t acting alone. Similar strategies were purportedly used by other well-known crypto influencers.
These celebrities made good money by promoting particular tokens and then liquidating their holdings, while the investors who followed them into these ventures suffered the most from the resulting financial consequences. According to SomaXBT’s investigation, Donaldson profited more than $10 million via this tactic.
These decreases have been connected by SomaXBT’s study to coordinated sales by a network of wallets connected to Donaldson and his colleagues. According to reports, some tokens lost more than 90% of their value.
Out of this, $SUPER is down 75%, while the other tokens are down over 90%. The on-chain investigation noted that Mr. Beast has made numerous previous investments, the majority of which did not turn out as planned.
Insiders have made substantial profits from these five projects, while retail investors have suffered considerable losses. Retail investors are stuck with tokens that have fallen 90% while insiders shed their allocations and made millions.
According to other investigations, Mr. Beast made $23 million
Two weeks later, the blockchain analytics website loock.io released an extensive analysis building on SomaXBT’s original assertions, further escalating the debate.
Researchers from loock.io, including blockchain analysts Kasper Vandeloock and Hxnterson, used on-chain data to track down a network of more than 50 wallets linked to MrBeast.
With over 325 million subscribers, Mr. Beast is one of the biggest YouTubers. (YouTube)
Transactions passing through Donaldson’s primary Ethereum wallet, which he had openly disclosed in 2021 after buying 50 Ethereum, were discovered throughout the investigation. According to Loock.io, these wallets displayed synchronized activity, suggesting a well-planned scheme to make money off of cryptocurrency speculation.
Mr. Beast’s alleged participation with SuperVerse (previously SuperFarm) accounted for a significant amount of his revenues. SuperVerse saw a temporary spike in value due to heavy promotion by MrBeast and other influencers in anticipation of an NFT marketplace connected to a gaming ecosystem.
According to records, MrBeast was given one million SUPER tokens at the beginning of 2021. According to Loock.io, he made about $7.5 million from a single sale of his stock during the height of SuperVerse’s price increase. According to reports, MrBeast’s overall SuperVerse revenues increased to roughly $11.5 million as a result of more token unlocks.
In addition to SuperVerse, Donaldson purportedly made money with Eternity Chain (ERN) for $4.6 million, PolyChain Monsters (PMON) for $1.7 million, and SHOPX for around $485,000.
Since MrBeast is a full-time content creator who devotes the majority of his attention to his social media empire as well as his numerous ventures and alliances, the report stated, “We believe this is a result of insider trading.”
“This implies that they may have been aware of openings and promotions before the general public, which would have allowed MrBeast to make a lot of money from a few well-timed investments.”
Confirming the Statements: Skepticism and Credibility
There are still concerns over the veracity of the evidence, in spite of the serious charges. Despite being thorough, the loock.io study has drawn criticism for mostly using circumstantial language.
Words like “we believe,” “a strong indicator,” and “highly likely” are used frequently in the report without providing concrete evidence that Mr. Beast planned pump-and-dump tactics.
Critics have also noted that the website loock.io provides little information about its founders, location, or legal status, and the primary researcher’s credentials are not well established.
The Bottom Line
According to the investigative study, YouTuber MrBeast allegedly made up to $23 million from alleged cryptocurrency frauds and dubious transactions, using his large following to influence the market.
Some contend, however, that the study lacks credibility because the charges are based on circumstantial evidence rather than verifiable evidence of deliberate market manipulation.
