Headline: Base co‑founder Jesse Pollak draws heat after backing Soulja Boy token as fraud claims resurface
Jesse Pollak, a co‑founder of Coinbase’s Base network, came under fire from the crypto community after sharing that he’d placed roughly $1,500 worth of ETH into a newly announced Soulja Boy token. The post prompted renewed scrutiny when prominent on‑chain investigator ZachXBT highlighted a history of problematic crypto promotions tied to the rapper.
ZachXBT dug up research first published in April 2023 showing at least six tokens that Soulja Boy promoted were later abandoned or identified as rug pulls. The investigator named projects including RapDoge, Orion, The Life Token, Flokinomics, and SafeMars, and pointed out that promotional posts often disclosed the rapper was being paid to promote these tokens. ZachXBT also documented that Soulja Boy launched at least nine NFT collections in 2021 — many of which were removed from OpenSea, deleted, or failed to deliver promised utility.
Based on a leaked price list indicating roughly $12,000 for an Instagram post and $10,000 for an X (formerly Twitter) promotion, ZachXBT estimated Soulja Boy may have earned about $730,000 from such paid promotions during the 2021 bull market.
Soulja Boy responded on X, saying he had “no knowledge that a scammer named Sahil was involved” in earlier promotions and that at the time he was doing paid promos “without understanding the crypto/NFT space the way I do now.” He apologized to investors who suffered losses, acknowledged insufficient due diligence, and said past promotions were handled by third parties over which he had no direct oversight.
The episode highlights persistent concerns about celebrity endorsements in crypto: influential figures can move markets but may lack the expertise or control needed to vet projects, leaving investors exposed. As high‑profile networks and their founders increasingly engage with tokens and NFTs, the debate over transparency, accountability, and due diligence in paid promotions is likely to intensify.
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