As a crypto-investor you are probably watching videos on youtube to get the lastest new about blockchain technology, to learn how to invest in cryptocurrencies and what coins to invest in, after all they are probably experts on that matter and you rather listen to their advice instead of diving into the action on your own right? Well, not so fast, as their are many youtubers who are trying to scam their viewers or are simply amateurs themeselves, who don't know what they're talking about. These are the things you have to look out for in order to protect your money:
- Little talk about the actual technology
What makes cryptocurrenciey revolutionary and potentially disruptive is the technology and it's long-term potential. The blockchain-technology probably already has proved itself as a vital part of the future, but simply creating a bitcoin-clone isn't bringing any value and won't hold on for long. New ICOs have to offer easy-to-understand practicability to sustain in the long run. If you look at a crypto-youtubers history and can't find many or any videos about technology: get your info somewhere else.
Remeber: A new coin/token must offer a whitepaper (or even better actual code) and must have a credible team behind it, NEVER an anonymous team. - Loud focus on returns and money
This is a signs for having an amateur right there. People with a cocky focus solely on getting rich, moons and ez lambos often promote numerous uncertain, sketchy altcoins with no actual bad intention. They hope the token will scryrocket, they THINK they found another goldrush (or hope to push the price by hyping) in order the make some mad return. These people often were fortunate enough to go into Bitcoin at an early stage, making a lot money in the process and making them believe to suddenly be an expert in that matter.
Remember: The biggest returns will be made in the long term, not by daytrading and only a good product will sustain. Greed will lead to bad investments. - Promoting ICOs
This is a big red flag. It is surprisingly easy to create token these days and scammers use that fact to make some quick money with an ICO, even as a non-programmer a token on the ethereum blockchain can be created within 10 minutes. They simply partner up with a youtuber, telling him to promote an ICOs on it's channel, the team behind the cryptocurrency quickly abandon their "project" and the actuall audience watching the video are left behind with worthless coins.
Remember: Most ICOs today are scams, you should be an experienced investor and really trust your own and know who to trust before entering this field.
One prominent and recent example for a scam is the crypto-lending site bitconnect. Many youtuber have promoted this site with good intent. It later turned out to be a ponzi scheme, the value of their token has fallen from over 400 USD to dust.
-spurtingleopard