On chain analyst and investigator, ZachXBT has published new research on a man called “Zopp0,” who ran several scam crypto projects known as SCALE, NTD, TPU, OPSEC that worked to manipulate the market with help of influencer bots.
In the leaked messages, Zopp0 was heard mobilizing promoters such as CryptoGodJohn, CryptoKazi, Luke Belmar, and other social media personalities into pushing these projects, in most cases without strong tech support. These projects lost a huge sum of money with some of them erasing more than 90% of their value within a single trading day.
Using influencers to hide malicious purpose
Sleek messages suggest that Zopp0 – the owner of such projects – strived for anonymity, employing influential experts, and even buying adverse coverage of competitors’ projects with anonymous crews.
ZoppO was directly involved in key project decisions and hired faces presented OPSEC to the public. In private messages, Zopp0 denied the importance of technical research, for which ZachXBT challenged him in March 2024. What about accountability? Zopp0 merely dismissed the problem, which concerned observers saw as a sign that the projects lacked credibility.
Anonymous private chat reveals panic and hush-up process
Following a March 20, 2024 post by ZachXBT regarding these kinds of projects on social media, private messages show Zopp0 and SZB became worried about the consequences of his posts. They canvassed fears that their inefficiency in handling project technicalities would put a face to them, and they planned to make SCALE third parties.
Out of concern for disclosing their identities, they reportedly hired people to spread FUD against competitors with undercover crews.
Despite all that, ZachXBT decided not to disclose these messages earlier, at least until now, because of the aggressive investors’ response and well-paid influencers.
However, three of these projects have now been reported to be rug pull hence the full extent of the manipulation was uncovered by ZachXBT. This hack has increased worry over futurity in the crypto market and integrity since many investors are now in a state of loss all because of the influence some social media personalities put to promote cryptocurrency.
