Hedge Fund Billionaire Bill Ackman Walks Back Endorsement Of Questionable Cryptocurrency

On November 20, amid renewed scrutiny of the crypto sector following the bankruptcy filing of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange, hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman issued a 19-tweet thread that hailed cryptocurrency’s “potential for beneficent societal impact.” His crypto paean singled out two specific blockchain projects–Helium and Dimo–as examples of “how a token could build intrinsic value over time.”

Helium
HELIUM
, a Web3 project that bills itself as a decentralized network of internet hotspots, had created what Ackman described as a “a global Wi-Fi network” used by e-scooter company Lime. The hedge fund investor explained that HNT, Helium’s native token, benefitted from Helium’s “global network of 974k hotspots,” and was positioned to become “a valued commodity” amid growth in network participation.

Unfortunately for Ackman, the facts tell a different story. Lime has never used Helium, as first reported by The Verge and Mashable; Lime also confirmed to Forbes, as part of a September investigation,…