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Crypto bounty campaigns have been growing in this nascent ecosystem as a leading means of attracting attention to initial coin offerings (ICOs). As such, influential people in this market are using their large fan bases to promote companies trying to raise funds for their projects.
John McAfee – a cybersecurity expert and prominent crypto supporter – is among these crypto celebrities, with the businessman having 800,000 followers on Twitter. According to BTCManager, McAfee’s rate for a single tweet promoting an ICO is $105,000.
The cybersecurity expert claimed that companies are more than willing to pay his fees since his clients are seeing a 600 percent return on investment. He explained that if you divide $105,000 by 800,000 then companies are essentially paying $0.13 per investor reached. Of course, bots and fake accounts may be among that 800,000 followers reached, but companies are still willing to shell out cash just for McAfee to promote their brand.
However, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave McAfee a warning last month. The security expert didn’t share the details of the warning but only said in a tweet that he was no longer going to promote ICOs by startups, citing threats from the agency.
One of the reasons why ICO critics are against crypto bounty campaigns is that promoters tend to be biased with their description of a startup, which can result in exaggerated claims. This, in turn, can blind people to invest in a company that is overhyped.
Indeed, the SEC has already issued a court order against one Michael Stollaire for using social media to promote his bogus ICO. Stollaire managed to accumulate a $21 million fund from local and international investors before he was apprehended by the agency.
Still, crypto bounty campaigns will persist in this market as blockchain and cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more prevalent. And with Google, Facebook, and Snapchat imposing their own restrictions on ICO campaigns, companies will still fund these bounty hunters as this type of campaign has been proven to be cheap and productive.
“It’s really a very cost-effective mechanism for developing a brand,” said Saransh Sharma, president of startup 4New. “Before you know it, there’s a snowball effect.”
