The biggest cryptocurrency scams that celebrities and leaders have fallen for

The world of cryptocurrencies is growing in popularity year by year. This is because more and more people see this investment alternative as a way to generate substantial income.

However, price volatility, lack of regulation in many countries and the possibility of fraud have cast a shadow over this type of market. In particular, because of the bad image generated by scams involving these digital assets.

The most talked about case recently involves the president of Argentina, Javier Milei, who has been accused of backing an alleged fraud after promoting a crypto that collapsed in the market. The situation surrounding the token known as $LIBRA is currently under investigation.

However, this is not the only incident of its kind that has made waves for involving well-known personalities, companies or public figures. Here is a compilation of those moments.

FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried

FTX was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchange platforms in the world, founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried. With an image of a young financial genius, he managed to attract million-dollar investments and support from public figures such as Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Kevin O'Leary and Hollywood celebrities.

FTX's reign collapsed in 2022 and by 2023 Bankman-Fried was convicted of stealing $8 billion from customers of its international cryptocurrency exchange. The scam involved misappropriation of customer funds and manipulation of his FTT token (FTX crypto).

Terra and Do Kwon

Terra was a cryptocurrency ecosystem developed by South Korean entrepreneur Do Kwon, founder of Terraform Labs. The platform was designed to offer an algorithmic stablecoin, called TerraUSD (UST), which was to maintain a 1:1 parity with the US dollar without being backed by traditional reserves.

In 2022, TerraUSD collapsed, bankrupting not only Terraform Labs, but also causing billions of dollars in losses. In fact, companies such as Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network and Voyager Digital went bankrupt due to their exposure to Terra.

NFT scams

Non-fungible tokens, also known as NFTs, burst onto the crypto scene around 2022 as an asset that combined entertainment, art and finance. However, its boom also brought with it a series of massive scams, in which celebrities, influencers and thousands of investors fell for.

One of the most talked about is the alleged scam involving youtuber Logan Paul and CryptoZoo, an alleged NFT-based game that would allow players to breed and sell digital animals for real profits.

Thousands of followers invested in the game's NFTs, but a working version was never released and investors lost millions. Paul was sued for fraud and, after public pressure, promised to partially reimburse those affected.