With investors worldwide looking at a $1.5 trillion in recent cryptocurrency losses, a blizzard of class-action lawsuits are being prepared. One big question is: who, if anyone, is to blame ?
See: Bitcoin slumps below $20,000 as cryptocurrency rout rolls on
US federal regulators say 46,000 people have reported losing $1bn in crypto to scams since January 2021.
Given the millions poured into promoting crypto – often with celebrity endorsements – legal action after the crash was inevitable. Class-action lawsuits are already in the works, the Guardian reported Saturday.
Kim Kardashian and the boxer Floyd “Money” Mayweather Jr are being sued for alleged false statements promoting the minor cryptocurrency EthereumMax.
The lawsuit alleges they encouraged followers to join “the EthereumMax community” and that the token itself was a “pump-and-dump” scheme that deceived investors.
Charles Randell, head of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, said in a speech to an economic crime symposium that he couldn’t say if the particular token was a “scam … but social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation”. EthereumMax has described the legal claim as a “deceptive narrative”.
In October last year the actor Matt Damon made his debut as the Crypto.com pitchman, advising viewers that “fortune favors the brave”. The ad was seen as a…
