American rapper Kanye West has revealed that scammers offered him $2 million to promote a fraudulent meme coin bearing his name.
The revelation comes amid speculation that he is exploring the crypto industry and seeking connections with Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Kanye West’s Crypto Revelation Raises Questions on Celebrity Endorsements
West stated that an unknown party approached him with a lucrative offer to mislead his audience.
According to his post, the proposed deal included an initial payment of $750,000, with the remaining $1.25 million scheduled for release 16 hours after he promoted the token.
The agreement also required the promotional post to stay live for at least eight hours before he could delete it. To cover up the endorsement, the scammers suggested he later claim his account had been hacked.
The fraudsters’ final message bluntly admitted that their plan was to steal “tens of millions of dollars” from the public.
However, West rejected the deal because he had no interest in deceiving his followers. The rapper also added that his net worth is back to $2.77 billion, and he achieved that without endorsing any cryptocurrency.
“I was proposed 2 million dollars to scam my community-those left of it. I said no and stopped working with their person who proposed it,” West stated.
Following his public rejection of the scam, West shared another screenshot of a private conversation where he sought guidance from a reliable figure in the crypto industry. One suggestion pointed him toward Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.
Celebrity Endorsements Have Lost Credibility
Meanwhile, West’s revelation has raised concerns about similar incidents involving high-profile accounts on X. Over the years, multiple celebrities and influencers have reported hacks that led to the promotion of questionable crypto projects.
Some believe these so-called hacks may not always be genuine, suggesting certain influencers may willingly participate in these schemes.
“Are you telling me all the big accounts getting ‘hacked’ and posting a memecoin over the last several months are fake?” Crypto influencer NotEezzy questioned.
Meanwhile, blockchain security expert Yu Xian, founder of SlowMist, confirmed that these types of scams are widespread. He noted that while compromised accounts are often used for fraudulent promotions, scammers also directly approach influencers with financial incentives.
“I believe this kind of scam exists. The scammers get a big [influencer] to act in the scheme, post a CA, and 8 hours later, the big [influencer] tweets that they got hacked. But with a prepayment of $750,000, is it that intense?” Xian wrote.
Overall, celebrity-endorsed meme coins are highly questionable in the current market. The ease of stealing millions with a simple rug pull might be too lucrative for some celebrities to ignore.
Users must remain cautious and not take any celebrity endorsement as a seal of trust or credibility.
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