Rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, has urged Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to avoid intermediaries, following his revelation that he rejected a $2 million offer to promote a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme.
In a Feb. 7 post on X, Ye disclosed that he was approached with a proposal to deceive his followers by endorsing a crypto project and later claiming his account had been hacked.
The deal offered an upfront payment of $750,000 for an initial post, with a follow-up payout of $1.25 million after 16 hours.
Ye stated he refused the offer and cut ties with the individual who pitched it. The revelation highlights ongoing scams targeting celebrities to exploit their influence in the crypto space.
“I was proposed 2 million dollars to scam my community. Those left of it. I said no and stopped working with their person who proposed it,” West said in a Feb. 7 X post.
West revealed that the scheme required him to promote a fraudulent crypto project to his 32.6 million followers, only to later claim his account had been "hacked."
This tactic would have allowed scammers to profit before victims became aware of the deception.
Yuri Molchan
Dan Burgin
Vladislav Sopov