A Morning Consultant survey of 2,200 US adults has discovered that 45% of crypto holders would rather look for advice from celebrities when looking to get exposure to a digital asset.
Three-quarters of crypto investors said they would make the decision to invest if a friend or family member recommended while 81% said they would invest if advised by a financial advisor.
Around 20% of all respondents said they knew of Kim Kardashian’s Instagram post about Ethereum Max made in June. 19% of respondents who saw the post said that they decided to invest in Ethereum Max after seeing the post, which represents 3.8% of the total sample.
The EMAX price increased after it was confirmed to be “the exclusive cryptocurrency accepted for online ticket purchasing” for the boxing match between boxing champion Floyd Mayweather and YouTube pariah Logan Paul. After the announcement, the token increased its price by 116,000% in only one week.
Ethereum Max then lost 99% of its value in the following two weeks. Then, on June 13th, Kim Kardashian posted about it to her 250 million Instagram followers. Following this, the token increased in price again – this time by 3,000% in less than two days.
Again, the token fell soon after, being 91% down compared to the high reached when Kim K endorsed it on Instagram.
Charles Randell of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority said the post was the single “financial promotion with the biggest audience reach in history,” adding: “I can’t say whether this particular token [Ethereum Max] is a scam. But social media influencers are routinely paid by scammers to help them pump and dump new tokens on the back of pure speculation. Some influencers promote coins that turn out simply not to exist at all.”