Ripple CTO David Schwartz recently weighed in on the controversy surrounding crypto blogger Ben "BitBoy" Armstrong's announcement of joining the BEN coin team.
In a recent tweet, BitBoy revealed that he, BEN, and a third member will be directing the project, which is now being transformed into an attention economy coin. According to Armstrong, the project aims to bring positive attention and awareness to support crypto usage and adoption, under the new meaning of BEN, which stands for "Be Everywhere Now."
The announcement has generated controversy within the crypto community, with some members expressing concerns about the project's legitimacy. One community member even claimed that it is "100% a rugpull."
Responding to this claim, Schwartz asked for clarification on whether the community member meant that the rug would be pulled in the future or if BitBoy joining the team was a rugpull in itself. Schwartz added that he agreed with one of those things, without specifying which one.
Do you mean that the rug will be pulled in the future? Or do you mean that Bitboy joining the team is itself a rug pull? Because one of those things I definitely agree with.
— David "JoelKatz" Schwartz (@JoelKatz) May 10, 2023
However, as Schwartz himself further explained, his statement was a joke.
What is BEN coin?
BEN is a token that appeared less than a week ago during meme season, which was spawned by the success of Pepe coin (PEPE). The marketing of the token, until recently, was tied to the use of the name and image of a talking dog named Ben from the game of the same name. Since its introduction to the market, BEN has managed to gain a capitalization of $30 million and nearly 14,000 holders.