Content studio Bankless co-founder David Hoffman has apologized for spreading rumors about what he called a “Wells ad carpet bombing” targeting cryptocurrency companies, including decentralized finance protocol Lido Finance.
The “carpet bombing” was a reference to an alleged spate of pit notices sent to crypto firms last week, a source told Hoffman. He shared the unverified information on March 3 during the Bankless Show podcast.
“A lot of well advisories have been issued to a lot of the DeFi applications. […] Wells ads have skyrocketed across the industry in the past week. He hasn’t come out yet,” she said, before noting that “I think Lido got one”.
The same day, Hoffman clarified on Twitter that Lido had denied the claim and apologized for mentioning the protocol in the rumor. “Lido does not deserve to be specifically targeted here,” he said, before reiterating that unannounced well notices had been sent to crypto firms:
“After checking with other sources, it is generally assumed that there are unannounced Wells notices, but it is impossible to know how many or how recently they were delivered.”
The rumor caused a nearly 20% decline in the price of the Lido DAO (LDO) token on March 3. according to CoinMarketCap data. Lido Finance did not immediately respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment.
Update on “Wells Ad Carpet Bombing” Statements in Weekly Digest
I checked with my source and have some clarification to do.
1. Time and concentration
I said that “a lot of Wells notices have been distributed in the last week or so.”
The “week” part is… https://t.co/1TzUWYyxVd
— DavidHoffman.bedrock_ (@TrustlessState) March 3, 2023
A well advisory is a warning sent by a regulatory authority to report violations found through an investigation. Essentially, it is a letter that informs a company of an impending enforcement action.
Stablecoin issuer Paxos recently received a pit notice from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly violating investor protection laws in connection with its Binance USD token (BUSD), which the commission says is an unrecorded value.
Rumors of well announcements recently reached the USD Coin issuing Circle. Circle Pay’s chief strategy officer and head of global policy, Dante Disparte, was quick to debunk the speculation, Cointelegraph reported.
