Key Takeaways
- ZachXBT has leaked a spreadsheet alleging to show crypto influencers who were payed to shill a project but didn’t disclose it.
- AI memecoin platform Memenetic has acknowledged planning the payments.
- Promoting financial products without disclosing such payments is illegal in most jurisdictions.
Crypto sleuth ZachXBT released leaked documents on Monday, claiming that they show how much crypto influencers were paid to promote an undisclosed project.
Out of over 160 accounts that were paid for promotion, he said less than five disclosed the fact, in contravention of platform policies and financial regulations.
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Crypto Influencers Paid To Shill
It should come as no surprise to discover that crypto influencers who promote meme coins and dubious DeFi platforms receive money for their promotions.
However, the scale of the operation exposed by ZachXBT indicates how rare appropriate disclosure is.
Influencers’ responses to being outed ranged from apologetic to defiant.
“There’s nothing I can do except own up to it,” the X user @Atitty stated .
Meanwhile, @sibeleth insisted they always disclose any paid promotions, arguing that “as long as you disclose your partnerships, getting paid deals is totally okay.”
Their account profile states that “unless explicitly stated otherwise,” all content “should be considered paid promotion.”
Memenetic in the Spotlight
While ZachXBT didn’t disclose the name of the project, an X account for Memenetic has claimed responsibility.
The claim is backed up by Atitty’s remarks post-leak, which refer to previous posts in which they promoted Memenetic.
ZachXBT “is correct, but also an understatement,” Memenetic said.
The project team claims they were scammed out of $232,000 in USDC by @MsCryptomom1 and @imanihamida, who “approached us with an offer to bring in ‘Quality Influencers’ to promote the token raise for the Memenetic software platform.”
However, “Not only did they hire some low quality, highly botted accounts, but we also found that they *swapped* out the payment address of influencers and instead paid themselves to their own wallets.”
Financial Promotion Rules Unenforced
In most jurisdictions, the deals ZachXBT surfaced would have required influencers to provide clear, upfront disclosure, and in some cases, formal regulatory approval.
For example, in the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines require “clear and conspicuous” disclosures whenever creators receive “anything of value” tied to an endorsement.
Meanwhile, the U.K. ‘s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) brought crypto ads fully inside its financial promotions regime in 2023.
Since then, all endorsements, even memes, must be approved by an FCA-authorized firm, and they must include prominent risk warnings, appropriateness checks, and a 24-hour cooling-off period.
Yet clearly, financial promotion rules aren’t being enforced on crypto Twitter.
Despite its efforts to crack down on illegal promotions, only 54% of the 1,702 alerts issued by the FCA between October 2023 and October 2024 resulted in content being taken down.
In a world where pseudonimity is the norm and crypto payments move seamlessly across borders, ultimately, few perpetrators face any consequences.
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