The Rise of the Crypto Influenza and the Fall of Truth

The rise of the influencer class has been nothing short of meteoric on nearly every social media platform and has found particular favor among the new, media-savvy, wealthy elite. Unfortunately, the new wealthy elite appears to be exactly the same as the old wealthy elite, as illustrated by its increased willingness to sue critics.

The influence class in crypto

While there are hundreds of new influencers in the cryptocurrency industry, few have crept into the mainstream consciousness like Ben Armstrong (or BitBoy Crypto on most social media) and Ran Neuner.

The two combined have millions of YouTube subscribers, over a million Twitter followers and roughly half a million Instagram followers, which means they leave quite a large footprint when it comes to investments they suggest, hype or otherwise provide advice on. This massive following also gives them the capital and time they need to come after anyone who decides to investigate their respective stories.

BitBoy

Ben’s story is one of redemption: an admitted meth addict turned minister and rehabilitation center manager finds a home in DeFi, advising cryptocurrency trading as of 2018. He hasn’t looked back since.

When asked by the Washington Post about his rise to “crypto influencer” status (this is the actual job title he lists on LinkedIn) — with over a million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 2.7 million followers on TikTok before his account was permanently banned in February 2022 – Ben casually remarks that he “is authentically … the same person on camera as he is off camera.”

Read more: Who is BitBoy Crypto and why does everyone hate him?

But after filing (and later dropping) a lawsuit against famous YouTuber Atozy for bad-mouthing his videos (in which he often makes endorsements, but is careful to end and begin each video with the general disclaimer of “not financial advice”) the authentic persona seems to disappear.

Ran Neuner

Ran Neuner is an influencer, an entrepreneur, a CEO, a founder, and an investor — though you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone outside of cryptocurrency Twitter who knows that. Now an independent media personality, Ran, who has long called Johannesburg, South Africa home, was once featured on a CNBC Africa segment called Crypto Traderbut currently distributes content under its YouTube channel Crypto Banter.

Ran started with marketing. In fact, he claims to have founded and ran the “largest marketing firm” on the African continent for years before selling “The Creative Counsel” to Publicis Groupe for millions.

At this point, Ran delved into cryptocurrencies — according to him by reaching out to “friends like Brock Pierce” and others — and started his fund called “OnChain Capital.” That’s when the dramatic growth began.

Ran’s YouTube and Twitter presence is actually quite large: he has ~580,000 subscribers and ~630,000 followers, respectively. This suggests that there are many who listen to his trading advice and accept that he might be an expert in cryptocurrency.

But as Ran’s fame and wealth have grown, so has the scrutiny of his business activities and public support for projects. Recently, as rumors of pumping and dumping and paid endorsements have surfaced linked to his funds and personal wallets, Ran has issued cease and desist letters along with veiled threats of doxxing (a term used to describe the disclosure of anonymous individuals online ) to critics and whistleblowers on Twitter.

Problem meets solution

While many crypto advocates and influencers like to talk about how decentralized cryptocurrencies are disrupting every industry and prevents abuse by the authoritiesmany of the same people will easily turn to the government to silence critics.

In fact, Armstrong has reportedly issued cease and desist orders and threats of lawsuits to a number of people — the exact number we can’t confirm, but during a live broadcast he claimed, “I’ve had another lawsuit, it was behind closed doors, and it went great.” This suggests that Ben:

1. Regularly uses strategic lawsuits to silence anyone who speaks ill of his work.

2. Has used this tactic repeatedly to get deleted videos and podcasts that caused problems for the channel and his persona.

Meanwhile, Ran sent out what would have been a funny letter if not for the fact that it directly threatened with legal action against FatManTerra, an anonymous figure on Twitter who has followed the Luna/Terra debacle religiously. The letter opens: “Attention fat man.”

Read more: Leaked document allegedly shows how much influencers charge to shill crypto on Twitter

And this doesn’t even touch on the fact that Ran has threatened to name the face behind the Twitter account ZachXBT – the most prolific and important scout in the crypto industry. Reason? Zach has shown proof of Ran purchases, given airtime to and then almost immediately sold stakes in a number of cryptocurrency projects – a concept known as pumping and dumping under any other guise.

“They invest in the worst projects, scary VCs, and get a huge (equity) allocation,” Zach said, referring to the likes of Ran, BitBoy and others. “After a year and a half of chasing (these influencers), I feel frustrated, but what can you do? They are misleading the public and I hope it catches up with them from a legal point of view.”

Unfortunately, Zach and other critics and scouts can’t just hope for consequences for the influencers. When asked about the consistent tweets suggesting that Ran will expose him, Zach simply said, “Yeah, it feels like a threat” (our emphasis).

Not long after this, Zach openly discussed the problems of being an anonymous lone wolf cryptocurrency, with issues ranging from hostility and legal threats to workload and rightful sacrifices:

How critics can fight back

It is important that critics and scouts, whether they are anonymous, pseudo-anonymous or not anonymous at all, understand your rights. Depending on where you live, you can and should be protected in a number of ways.

Firstly, it is important to know your rights before speaking out. Unfortunately, jurisdiction plays an important role in one’s ability to be sued for libel or slander. For example, England has far less forgiving definitions of libel and slander than the US, but even in the US, which state you live in plays a significant factor in a crypto-influencer’s ability to sue.

If you live in the US, many states, such as California and Texas, provide very strong anti-SLAPP (anti-strategic lawsuit against public participation) protection, which ensures that if someone files a lawsuit against a critic for protected speech, the plaintiff will likely have to pay for legal fees (and possibly more).

Nineteen states, including New Jersey and Ohio, have no anti-SLAPP protection whatsoever. (The EU has anti-SLAPP legislation in the works.)

Second, if someone has either sent you a cease and desist or threatened a lawsuit that you feel is unfair, immediately seek help from a lawyer. They will hopefully be able to either give you a proper estimate of what it will look like to fight or direct you to another attorney who can assist.

Finally, if you decide to make a public criticism or voice a concern, are served with a lawsuit and decide to fight it, it may be a good idea to speak up. “If this had been public, I wouldn’t have done it,” Ben Armstrong said in a YouTube video announcing he was dropping the lawsuit against Atozy. The backlash from publicizing a lawsuit widely seen as an attempt to silence a critic helped to scuttle the threat before it could take off.

Read more: Hodlonaut receives massive backing and $1M ahead of Craig Wright lawsuits

Know your enemy

Since many fintech and cryptocurrency influencers are keen to categorize criticism or even just insults as brazen attack on their brand, it is necessary to understand what to expect when you loudly disclose a serious financial failure or question insurance policies. The influencers do not accept the criticism or revelations as lessons to be learned or suggestions to be constructive, they only see them as risks that need to be mitigated, and often the easiest method is to silence individuals with legal scare tactics.

It is no surefire way to protect against influencers filing flagrant lawsuits to valid criticism, but the best offense is a good defense – know the inherent risks and be prepared for the worst.

Our team has contacted Ran and Ben with questions and will update this article if we hear back.

For more informed news, follow us further Twitter and Google News or listen to our investigative podcast Newly created: Blockchain City.