Social media personality faces backlash for profiting significantly from a memecoin following a comment made by a cryptocurrency exchange founder.

Memecoin Scam and Rug Pull

A scammer, known as SmokezXBT, executed a scheme involving a memecoin called Shanghai Composite Index (SCI6900) on the Binance Smart Chain, defrauding his 60,000 followers of $430,000. He initially promoted the coin, then quickly dumped it after a brief price surge triggered by a comment from Binance founder CZ. SmokezXBT bragged about the profitability of the scheme, framing it as a "masterclass."

Previous Scam History and Grifting

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT revealed that SmokezXBT has a history of similar scams involving memecoins, including a previous incident with a coin called BLOOD. He previously rug pulled his followers and deleted his social media accounts. ZachXBT described SmokezXBT as a “known grifter” and highlighted his pattern of making excuses and playing victim.

Binance and the Memecoin Market

The incident occurred amidst a period of high activity and speculation around memecoins on Binance, following the launch of the Meme Rush wallet. While many memecoin investors have recently seen profits, Binance memecoins have experienced significant losses recently and a broader market downturn. The overall memecoin market cap has seen a substantial decrease.