Key Takeaways
- The crypto YouTuber BitBoy Crypto has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Atozy, alleging he defamed him in a video.
- UpOnly co-host Cobie donated $100,000 Atozy to fund the case.
- The incident highlights how a few of crypto’s most outstanding figures can use their platform for good and dangerous functions.
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Unpacking the BitBoy Crypto drama.
BitBoy Crypto vs. Atozy
It’s been a wild week on the planet of crypto influencers. Yesterday, it was revealed that BitBoy Crypto, arguably one of the influential personalities within the house with over 1.44 million subscribers on YouTube, had filed a lawsuit in opposition to fellow content material creator Atozy over a nine-month-old video titled “This Youtuber Scams His Followers… BitBoy Crypto.”
BitBoy, actual identify Ben Armstrong, alleged that the video amounted to a slew of authorized slights, together with “defamation, intentional infliction of emotional misery, and tortious interference with enterprise relations.” Atozy, shaken by the submitting, took to Twitter this week to tell his followers of the state of affairs and to crowdfund the price of his authorized charges.
If, like me, you are inclined to avoid Crypto YouTube, you could be questioning what all of the fuss is about. YouTube creators routinely sue one another for something and all the things, so what makes this time any totally different? Properly, it’s not simply Atozy who’s taken a crucial stance on the content material Armstrong produces. Many different outstanding crypto figureheads together with
Anthony Pompliano, ZachXBT, and Coffeezilla have beforehand known as out Armstrong for selling junk crypto tasks and benefiting from new entrants into the house.
With such a big portion of the crypto neighborhood riled by Armstrong’s antics, it was no shock that crypto OG Cobie backed up Atozy with a $100,000 donation to cowl his authorized charges. This isn’t the primary time Cobie has proven his altruistic facet—final 12 months, he routinely organized crypto neighborhood “Twitch raids” for novice musicians enjoying on the favored streaming web site, and extra lately helped elevate over $800,000 price of crypto for a child battling leukemia.
Hours after Cobie’s beneficiant donation, Armstrong announced that he had withdrawn his lawsuit in a YouTube stream, proving that cash does certainly speak. Armstrong’s “official” cause for withdrawing the swimsuit was that he didn’t count on it to go public—a poor excuse for a wholly predictable consequence.
Nonetheless, the entire occasion highlights the duality of crypto influencers. Whether or not we prefer it or not, these trying into crypto from the skin will see its most outstanding influencers as a illustration of the whole neighborhood. The query is, do we would like them to see individuals like Armstrong utilizing their place to shill shitcoins and punch down on smaller creators, or individuals like Cobie, utilizing their energy and affect for good?
All of us have the power to affect which personalities get probably the most consideration by way of the content material we have interaction with and the recommendation we give, so I’ll take my very own recommendation and do this now: Don’t watch channels like BitBoy Crypto. Judging by Armstrong’s actions, it’s clear he solely cares about one factor—the sum of money in his checking account.
Thanks for stopping by, everybody. Till subsequent time.
Disclosure: On the time of writing this text, the creator owned ETH, BTC, and several other different cryptocurrencies.