MrBeast, a YouTube artist with more than 320 million followers, has come under scrutiny following an on-chain investigation that suggests he may have made millions from small-cap cryptocurrencies.
According to the anonymous crypto sleuth known as SomaXBT, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, made over $10 million backing initial DEX offerings (IDO) for projects like Polychain Monsters (PMON) and Virtue Poker (VPP).
It's an ethical red flag, SomXBT says, likening it to a pump-and-dump scheme. Promoting tokens to millions of followers, only to sell them after their value increases, causes regular investors to suffer a loss.
“These are the shady things everyone has done in the cryptocurrency market,” SomXBT stated on x, referring to social media influencers. “(If) they had done this in the stock market, the SEC would be after them.”
SomaXBT uses on-chain data to track, increase transparency, and hold the crypto community accountable. Their work, evident in their posts from October 11, highlights the risks of token promotions backed by influencers.
MrBeast's participation with SUPER
According to the x.com/somaxbt/status/1844718100211523872″ target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”>investigationDonaldson's involvement spans several projects, including SuperFarm ($SUPER), Polychain Monsters ($PMON), SPLYT ($SHOPX), STAK, and Virtue Poker ($VPP).
The analysis is based on the activity of the wallet labeled 'Mr. Beast' in Arkham Intelligence.
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One of the biggest implications is alleged to have been SuperFarmDAO's $SUPER token. SomaXBT claims that Donaldson invested $100,000 and subsequently received 1 million $SUPER tokens.
The investigation alleges that these tokens were subsequently sold for approximately 1,900 eth, worth approximately $3.7 million at the time.
The additional purchased tokens reportedly earned the YouTube star another $5.5 million. This reportedly brought his total earnings from $SUPER to around $9 million.
Similar patterns were observed with other tokens. SomaXBT stated that in the case of $PMON, a $25,000 investment reportedly generated $1.7 million in profits.
The $SHOPX token reportedly returned $765,000 with an initial investment of $25,000. The research also points to profits of $1.25 million from $STAK tokens.
SomaXBT notes that many of these projects have since faced significant devaluations, with some dropping more than 90% from their peak prices. Some projects have changed names or changed course after major losses.
SomaXBT draws parallels with regulated markets, suggesting that such stock market activities would likely attract the attention of regulators.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="680" height="447" src="https://crypto.news/app/uploads/2024/10/image-7.png” alt=”YouTuber MrBeast Made Over $10 Million Promoting Low-Cap Tokens, Says On-Chain crypto Researcher – 1″/>
SomaXBT also reminded the community about MrBeast's previous support for non-fungible tokens or nfts. A screenshot of a tweet shows Donaldson mentioning Gary Vee and openly stating that he became attached to some of Vee's friends.
crypto.news sent an email to MrBeast requesting an interview, but did not receive a response.
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