IShowSpeed Under Fire For Promoting Paradox Metaverse "Crypto Scam" (Updated)

On 17th November 2022, YouTube creator Darrel "IShowSpeed" Wattson came under fire for promoting an alleged "crypto scam." The content creator was joined by several guests, including a Cristiano Ronaldo lookalike, to sign PlayStation 5 consoles and promote a metaverse project called Paradoxmeta.io.

In the YouTube Livestream entitled "surprise," IShowSpeed was surrounded by merchandise and advertisement material used to promote the metaverse project, Paradoxmeta.io. Alongside this, IShowSpeed was joined by a supposed spokesperson partially handling the metaverse project, who claimed that Paradoxmeta.io will be the "biggest crypto coin in the world."

The entire Livestream seemed to be aimed at advertising the metaverse project, which IShowSpeed's community quickly branded a "crypto scam." Proceeding this, the community began asking where the big "surprise" was (following the stream's title), after which the spokesperson hinted that it would only be revealed if the project received enough online impressions.

In excitement, IShowSpeed continued requesting support for Paradoxmeta.io by asking his community to follow the metaverse project's social media accounts, saying, "Everybody follow Paradoxmeta.io. Please follow them right now! Follow them right now so I can see what this is, bro. They're saying I'm going to be very happy, bro. Just follow them, please. Like, I genuinely want to see who the hell he is, bro." 

Following this, the YouTuber received a donation, saying, "None of us are trolling Speed; these guys are scammers." IShowSpeed immediately got frustrated at his community for calling the metaverse project out, saying, "That is a dumb*ss comment." Then, the YouTuber proceeded to sign more PlayStation 5's and wave off his community's opinion on the project.

• Related: Logan Paul Allegedly Involved in Crypto Pump and Dump Scams

IShowSpeed's community then proceeded to call him out for advertising and promoting a "crypto scam" that supposedly functioned as a "pump and dump," with some members going as far as to call IShowSpeed, "IPumpNDump."

For those uninitiated, a "pump and dump" is an illegal kind of securities fraud where the price of a blockchain-based asset is intentionally boosted (i.e., "pumped") based on false or misleading information and then later sold off ("dumped") by early adopters (often the creators) for profit. In some cases, this scheme causes the asset's value to effectively drop to zero (also called a "rug pull"), leading to late adopters losing all their money.

Mobile users: The related segment starts around the 27:00 timestamp.

Update on 18th November 2022: In response to the ongoing controversy, IShowSpeed addressed the "crypto scam," apologizing and saying that he is not a scammer in a separate Livestream.

"You don't know what I do for you all. Let me give out a quick little quote. I do so much stuff for [my community]. I made a mistake. I'm not that smart. I'm going to be honest. But as I go, I get smarter and smarter. I made a little mistake that I wish I never did, but I'm not a scammer. There's never a day in my life I'd ever scam you guys, just remember that. I care about [my community] so much," IShowSpeed said.

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All featured images are courtesy of IShowSpeed.