Key Takeaways
- BitBoy Crypto is YouTube’s greatest crypto influencer, fashionable amongst newcomers within the area.
- He is been criticized for utilizing his platform to endorse doubtful crypto tokens.
- BitBoy not too long ago threatened to sue Atozy after he referred to as out his habits, however has since claimed that he is dropping the lawsuit.
Share this text
BitBoy’s popularity is reaching new lows within the crypto neighborhood.
BitBoy Crypto vs. Atozy
BitBoy Crypto is going through scrutiny within the crypto neighborhood over his failed plan to sue Atozy.
The YouTube influencer named Benjamin Armstrong sparked outrage earlier this month when it was revealed that he had tried to sue one other YouTuber referred to as Atozy. Armstrong issued the threats after Atozy revealed a video titled “This Youtuber Scams His Followers… Bitboy Crypto” in November 2021. Atozy, actual identify Erling Mengshoel Jr., introduced on Twitter that he was going through a authorized battle with Armstrong. This impressed famous crypto character Cobie to donate $100,000 towards the case and overwhelming help from the neighborhood.
In response, Armstrong announced on August 24 that he was ditching the lawsuit, prompting celebration and mock from the neighborhood. Onlookers created memes, songs, and NFTs to mark the event. “It appears to be like like everyone seems to be doing the best factor now… Yay for comfortable endings,” said Ripple chief technological officer David Schwartz.
Mengshoel Jr. then tweeted a baffling replace on August 26. He claimed that Armstrong’s legal professionals had not dismissed the case and had, actually, filed a return of service setting out a deadline for Mengshoel Jr. to supply a authorized response. That replace prompted a query: was Armstrong mendacity when he mentioned he was dropping the swimsuit, or was his authorized workforce uncontrolled?
Jake Chervinsky, probably the most outstanding legal professionals working within the crypto area, pointed out that court docket filings generally take days to hit the general public docket, that means the return of service may have been filed earlier than Armstrong determined to desert the lawsuit. Nevertheless, he indicated that it “takes like 5 minutes for a plaintiff to file a discover of dismissal” and that it appeared that the process had not been initiated.
Armstrong said in response to Mengshoel Jr. that the delay in processing time was the rationale for the return of service submitting. “Talking with lawyer as we speak. Will probably be formally dropped on lawyer finish by early subsequent week,” he wrote. “As quickly because it’s performed, will let everybody know. It’s a course of. So yea, it’s over. Simply want some paperwork performed to wrap it up.”
Whereas Armstrong’s response could also be respectable, it’s laborious to miss his patchy historical past. There’s a motive Armstrong has attracted a lot contempt over time.
Paid Advertising and marketing
On the time of writing, Armstrong has 1.44 million YouTube subscribers on YouTube and greater than 883,400 Twitter followers. He’s typically one of many first assets crypto newcomers in search of insights come across. Nevertheless, because the likes of ZachXBT, Coffeezilla, and Anthony Pompliano have referred to as out, Armstrong steadily makes use of his platform to advertise questionable crypto tasks to his unknowing—and infrequently inexperienced—audience. Armstrong doesn’t endorse tasks simply because a fan of them; he does it for a paycheck.
A doc that allegedly particulars Armstrong’s advertising phrases circulated the crypto area earlier this 12 months as a part of a ZachXBT exposé. The doc claimed that Armstrong costs $35,000 for devoted crypto venture critiques, $20,000 to say a venture on one among his stay streams, $40,00 for an interview, $10,000 for a Telegram AMA session, and $2,500 for a textual content article on his web site. Mengshoel Jr. made the identical allegations within the video that prompted Armstrong’s authorized threats.
A number of tasks—together with the likes of Pamp Network and Kasta—have flatlined since Armstrong endorsed them. When a venture tanks after Armstrong provides his seal of approval, he steadily deletes or unlists movies selling the venture in an try and cowl his tracks (a video selling Pamp, an deserted venture Mengshoel Jr. criticized Armstrong for supporting, is nowhere to be seen now that its token has crashed).
Regardless of Armstrong’s poor monitor document, mainstream media shops have consulted him for his views on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the broader crypto market on a number of events over the previous 12 months. “Let me ask you about another names that pop up. Shiba Inu, do you want that? Dogecoin, Ripple. Discuss to me about these names,” Fox Enterprise anchor Charles Payne requested Armstrong on air on November 1. “I imagine Ripple would be the most explosive coin within the subsequent few months,” mentioned Armstrong. XRP peaked at $1.32 9 days later; it now trades at round $0.33.
BitBoy Threatens Lawsuits
“By no means within the historical past of this channel have I [mislead my viewers]. Not one time. Not one single time have I ever performed that… And the phrases that come out of your mouth, that purchase into the meme tradition within the echo chamber that you simply stay in—it’s asinine, Pomp, it truly is. You’re out right here assassinating folks’s characters.”
These had been Armstrong’s phrases to Pompliano in response to accusations that he deceives his viewers. Armstrong has steadily denied the allegations leveled towards him and made claims of emotional misery. However in December 2021, he got here up with a brand new response—threatening people with lawsuits. Earlier than his threats towards Mengshoel Jr., none of his earlier warnings ended up in court docket. Nonetheless, Armstrong as soon as weighed suing Twitter for slacking on giving him a blue checkmark, and he additionally tried to organize a class-action lawsuit towards Celsius as an insolvency disaster hit the fund in June.
On condition that Armstrong introduced (honestly or not) that he was dropping his case towards Mengshoel Jr. hours after Cobie despatched him $100,000 to fund authorized charges, there’s an affordable argument to be made that Armstrong merely makes use of litigation as an intimidation tactic towards his critics. However on this occasion, his technique has backfired (spectacularly so).
How Lengthy Can BitBoy Final?
Whereas Armstrong has confronted a backlash over his antics towards Mengshoel Jr., he’s unlikely to undergo an excessive amount of anytime quickly. Armstrong is perhaps considered as a charlatan by lots of the business’s longstanding gamers, however that doesn’t imply he’s not a success with newer crypto followers. A look at his YouTube channel reveals that his current movies pull in comparable numbers of views to those he posted throughout the 2021 bull market.
The composition of his viewership should even be thought-about: even when outdated followers drop out resulting from his dangerous calls, there’ll be newcomers to switch them. Nonetheless, not less than a few of Armstrong’s longtime viewers is catching on. In an August 21 video titled “Cardano: MILLIONAIRE MAKER (Why ADA WILL Make You RICH in 2023!),” some viewers referred to as Armstrong out for making dangerous calls on ADA prior to now. “I bear in mind final 12 months once you mentioned ‘this would be the final likelihood it’s important to purchase ADA at below $1.00’. My dangerous for not promoting it final fall when it was up from there,” they wrote. One other mentioned that Armstrong’s evaluation was “very similar to final 12 months’s movies about XRP making you wealthy after which the worth dropping by 5x.”
For now, BitBoy Crypto remains to be the world’s greatest crypto influencer, however with each new controversy, Armstrong’s media enterprise comes nearer to struggling the identical destiny because the doubtful tokens on his shill record—going to zero.
Disclosure: On the time of writing, the writer of this piece owned ETH and several other different cryptocurrencies.
