Popular socialite Kim Kardashian has been promoting a shady project via her social networks. Called Ethereum MAX or ETHMAX protocol, Kardashian uploaded two Instagram stories in the past 24 hours asking their fans if they are “into crypto”.
Although the post claims she is not making financial advice, she promotes the project as if someone from her inner circle gave her good information on a recent E-Max burn, the protocol’s native token.
In doing so, the protocol allegedly burned 400 trillion of its native token to “give it back to the entire E-MAX community”, most likely via an airdrop. Later, she invites her fans to “join the E-Max Community”.
With over 220 million followers on her Instagram account, the socialite has a huge reach, but many have questioned the legitimacy of the so-called protocol.
First of all, the project seems to have different logos and websites. It even appropriates from ETH traditional logo in a website under the domain ethmax.finance.
However, the project has no whitepaper, proposal, a background section and if there is a team behind, there is nowhere to corroborate theirs identifies. The website is only a link to a Medium page, but there is no post explaining its tokenomics, objectives, or even if it’s based on Ethereum.
Many have speculated on whether Kardashian has her social media accounts hacked but seems unlikely because the posts have been uploaded for over 10 hours. additionally, there have been no statements from Kardashian or her team on a potential hack.
Kim Kardashian And Other Promoters Of ETHMAX
Kardashian hasn’t been the only celebrity promoting this project. Floyd Mayweather, the American former professional boxer, did the same in two separate events: The Bitcoin 2021 Conference and his exhibition boxing match with Logan Paul.
Mayweather has a controversial history with cryptocurrencies. Over 2 years ago, he was sued by a Chinese investor accusing the professional fighter of allegedly “miss misappropriating funds raised during” an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Another celebrity besides Kim Kardashian connected with ETHMAX is Paul Pierce, a former NBA basketball player. Via his Twitter handle, Pierce claimed to have made “more money” with E-Max than with ESPN. In his post, Pierce links to a very different website for this project.
.@espn I don’t need you. I got @ethereum_max I made more money with this crypto in the past month then I did with y’all in a year. TRUTH shall set u Free
my own Bosshttps://t.co/3irnuWYve3 check it out for yourself
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) May 26, 2021
Still, there is no Whitepaper or any other document to verify its legitimacy, it only reads the following on its landing page:
We launched eMax with a vision to bridge the gap between the emergence of community tokens and the well-known foundational coins of crypto, creating a unique token that provides reoccurring and automatic 3% financial rewards to its holders with a pathway for practical long-term use in everyday life.
The combined reach and engagement from Kim Kardashian and other celebrities could be counted in the millions of millions. In the U.S., regulators have begun to express more concern about the number of people that place large sums of money in illegitimate crypto projects in hopes of turning a quick profit.
Elon Musk is well known for promoting shady projects and has been accused of trying to manipulate the market. In the long run, the crypto industry could be affected by this practice, if the regulators decide to take a more aggressive approach.
At the time of writing, ETH trades at $2,568 with a 5.1% profit in the daily chart.
