09/11/2017 / By Ethan Huff
Cryptocurrencies are a dime a dozen these days, as every Joe “tech” Schmoe seems to be either buying them or creating them. And you know the situation has gotten out of control when even Paris Hilton of “that’s hot” fame is hawking them on Instagram – her digital fiat of choice being a crypto-coin known as “Lydian” that reportedly doesn’t even exist yet.
Signifying further that cryptocurrency technology is likely gaining in popularity (even if it will ultimately fail, as many predict), Hilton’s surprising push for LydianCoin isn’t a marketing thing, she claims. No, she’s simply excited about “participating,” which according to reports means buying some unknown amount of LydianCoin for $5 a pop.
Developed by a company known as “Gravity4,” LydianCoin is the brainchild of the company’s CEO, Gubaksh Chahal, who is trying to raise $100 million in fast cash by selling 20 million LydianCoins. The only problem is that LydianCoins don’t actually exist yet – this, and Chahal doesn’t exactly have the greatest reputation, seen as how he pleaded guilty to assault in 2014 after being accused of beating his girlfriend. He was also accused of violating his probation after allegedly assaulting another woman not long after this.
As reported by Business Insider, LydianCoin will combine the widely popular blockchain technology used to drive other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin with so-called “targeted, AI driven digital marketing and advertising services.” It’s rather fitting, considering the picture that Hilton posted of herself on Instagram in conjunction with her LydianCoin plug depicts her as some type of extraterrestrial (and who knows; maybe the text below it was AI-generated!)
Despite all the controversy surrounding cryptocurrency technology, Hilton is apparently ready to hop onboard the LydianCoin bandwagon – and she wants you to do so as well. She wouldn’t have published such an endorsement if she wasn’t getting something in return, of course. Maybe she’s getting a few thousand LydianCoin for free in exchange for pushing the Ponzi scheme on her followers.
Celebrities are often used as marketing puppets to get people to buy things they either don’t need or that would otherwise be distasteful due to needles risk. In this case, LydianCoin represents the latter, as it doesn’t even exist and does not represent a solid store of value. In fact, $5 per coin is $5 too much, considering that LydianCoin is fictitious and worth absolutely nothing as of this writing.
To be clear, some ICOs (also known as initial coin investments) may be worthy investments depending on what they’re for. When combined with a healthy business plan and growth model, they can be the easiest and quickest means by which to raise capital and get an emerging business off the ground. But LydianCoin doesn’t appear to hold such promise, and the fact that a B-list celebrity with air for a brains is being used to push it on the masses says a lot about its potential.
“To critics of the booming world of ICOs, Hilton’s involvement is the latest example of a fad finance trend that has already seen the offerings raise $1.25 billion this year,” comments Zero Hedge about the ICO cryptocurrency phenomenon. “To its supporters, it’s evidence of the networking effect that will quicken the development of ICOs.”
Other celebrities pushing cryptocurrencies include Floyd “Crypto” Mayweather, who has reportedly invested in several cryptocurrency offerings. So has professional basketball player Dennis Rodman, who was seen wearing a t-shirt advertising an ICO called “potcoin” after he returned from a visit to Kim Jong Un in North Korea earlier in the year.
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Tagged Under: bitcoin, cryptocurrency, ico, lydiancoin, paris hilton, Ponzi scheme