Why was crypto so quick to adopt Andrew Tate?

[ad_1]

2022 and its seemingly endless bear market was not only a bad year for crypto prices, it was also a year to forget for a long list of frauds and high leverage players.

From the highly publicized implosion of FTX and the arrest and indictment of its curly-haired founder Sam Bankman-Fried to the SEC serving notices to crypto influencers like BitBoy (Ben Armstrong) and Terraform Labs Do Kwon leaking to Serbia, 2022 will go down in crypto history as the year of judgment.

But there could still be more to come. As 2022 drew to a close, news broke that infamous internet provocateur Andrew Tate had been arrested in Romania on human trafficking charges, just days after he was involved in a Twitter spat with Greta Thunberg.

Tate, for those who haven’t had the dubious pleasure of crossing paths with him yet, is a former world champion kickboxer and now an online influencer who has amassed millions of fans and followers claiming to teach young men how to quit. to be losers.

Now best known for selling online courses that promise to show how to escape the Matrix, the cigar-smoking supercar enthusiast raised his eyebrows when he bragged that he’d also started a webcam porn business.

And, as if we couldn’t already guess, Tate also has a crypto shilling history.

Andrew Tate has made some influential crypto friends

Tates is a pretty popular guy in the crypto world. As well as having a huge following in the space, he has been interviewed and in some cases even championed – by various popular influencers including Anthony Pompliano and Laya Heilpern.

Indeed, in December 2022, Altcoin Daily, a YouTube channel with over one million subscribers, applauded Tate for encouraging people to buy bitcoin and ether. Tate recommended people buy crypto now and sell only three years later with retirement gains.

Even Michael Saylor had friendly exchanges with Tate on Twitter, with the pair casually applauding each other for holding bitcoin.

Read more: Crypto price predictions for 2022 were so wrong

Not only does he talk about digital currencies (or, at least, the ones he holds), but Tate also seems to be using them to do business.

Recently, he has taken to selling memberships for his elite War Room (the self-proclaimed largest global network that exists on planet Earth). To sign up, you just need to pay around $5,500, and yes, it accepts bitcoin, apparently on multiple wallets.

Indeed, Protos has identified one of Tate’s bitcoin addresses that receives membership funds for its club while others claim to have confirmed separate addresses that would be used to collect fees.

From the wallet identified by Protos, Tate received 113 bitcoins, worth about $2 million, and his university Hustlers is also collecting bitcoins, bringing in about $11 million in just one month.

Of course, crypto often comes with illegal activity. Many Tates courses have recently been promoted on Reddit, but upon checking the store’s bitcoin address, Protos discovered that the seller was connected to a crypto scam that stole millions of dollars worth of crypto from Twitter users. .

It should be noted, however, that Protos could not find a direct link between Tate and the scammer who owns this particular bitcoin wallet.

Are Tate and crypto made for each other?

So the question is, what exactly is the crypto community as a whole ready to put up with before someone is unanimously cut adrift? Apparently, while the warm reception given to Tate and the number of supporters he still seems to have is anything to go by, as long as someone is pumping bags, morality can take a back seat.

Of course, not all crypto-influencers have welcomed it, and some, like Peter McCormack, have been publicly critical. McCormack also criticized Laya Heilpern for supporting Tate. Unfortunately, the critical voices are more muted than those who have supported it so far.

In a way, it’s no surprise that Tate found such a company among the crypto community. After all, on the surface they share many of the same ideals – an anarchic or libertarian ideology that is against the state and distrusts official institutions. Indeed, Tate does not hide his aversion for the authorities and applauds countries like Romania where corruption is accessible to all.

Read more: Proud Boys is linked to pro-crypto political consultant Samuel Armes

Ultimately, Tate didn’t become famous for his commercial success or his crypto: he became popular outside of the kickboxing world by saying misogynistic and controversial things about women which earned him many male fans and followers. . But despite this, when crypto and influencers discovered Tate and this army of fans, many rallied around him, praising him uncritically and harboring the idea that he is someone who should be listened to.

And this is a potential problem for bitcoin or any other crypto with designs on total legitimacy. It’s no secret that Bitcoin has struggled to gain acceptance from lawmakers and regulators, largely due to its anonymity features that make it particularly attractive to criminals and fraudsters.

And now, with footage of one of his most famous defenders being carried around the world in handcuffs, there are not just eggs in the faces of those who took him in so easily, but more ammunition. for those who wish to crush it.

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

[ad_2]