Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong just fell for the oldest trick in the crypto-twitter playbook.
When Harry Potter author J.K Rowling made a surprise entrance to the Bitcoin space this weekend, Armstrong attempted to welcome her in. When Rowling apparently made a $100 BTC purchase, Armstrong told her to get over to Coinbase and urged her to check out all the other crypto assets on offer.
Coinbase CEO’s Bitcoin Mistake
Only the account Armstrong replied to was a fake one. J.K Rowling did not purchase any Bitcoin at all. The fake account has since been deleted, but the cryptocurrency corner of Twitter continued to poke fun at Armstrong’s mistake.
Cryptocurrency developer and Twitter user ‘icebergy’ suggested that if Armstrong can fall for a fake account, anyone can. They wrote: “If the CEO of Coinbase fell for this no wonder why noobs get scammed all the time.”
Twitter impersonators remain one of the most utilized forms of scams in the crypto space. Almost every high-profile crypto personality has its Twitter profile swarmed by legions of imitators, all looking to siphon funds from gullible followers.
Director of Research at The Block, Larry Cermak, chimed in, characterizing Armstrong of having attempted to sell “shitcoins” to a fake J.K Rowling. Cermak tweeted:
“These are the CEOs at the two largest exchanges in the space. One is responding to a fake JKR tweet with a not so convincing pitch to sell shitcoins. The other one posted the biggest cringe I’ve seen in years but at least managed to respond to the right account. Speechless.”
CZ’s Tweet Sleeps With the Fishes
The second CEO, referred to in Cermak’s tweet, is the founder and CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao (CZ). The Binance chief tweeted the following message to (the real) J.K Rowling, which many observers found to be just as ridiculous as Armstrong’s:
Zhao’s tweet has since been deleted from his Twitter feed, but does its lingering effect remain? One thing that’s clear from J.K Rowling’s surprise appearance in the crypto space is that bookish and techie types don’t always mix.
Armstrong and Zhao probably meant well, but neither achieved the effect they were hoping for.
The post If the Coinbase CEO Can Fall for This Old Trick, Anyone Can appeared first on CryptoPotato.
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