Anti-Skycoin Paid-FUD Exposed!

Skycoin is a comprehensive blockchain ecosystem that makes many other cryptos obsolete, which means the project attracts a constant stream of FUD from rival platforms that view Skycoin as a threat.

In June 2018, a Twitter user going by the name of “Jared Dunn” posted an audio recording supposedly revealing the CEO of Skycoin talking about a private insider trading group. The post was shared widely on social media. As the story evolved, there were also claims that the SEC was investigating Skycoin. Dozens of media outlets ran with the story, claiming Skycoin’s CEO was under investigation by the SEC for insider trading.

Of course, as with all Skycoin FUD, the entire story was a fabrication.

Firstly, Skycoin doesn’t have a CEO. Skycoin is a blockchain ecosystem, not a traditional company. There is no CEO to investigate.

Secondly, insider trading refers to the trading of a public company’s stock by individuals with access to non-public information.

Insider trading doesn’t apply to the unregulated global cryptocurrency market, and the USA-based SEC has no authority or interest in investigating such matters, even if the allegations were true, which they were not.

The audio clip in question was originally posted by Skycoin developer Synth, in the public Skycoin Telegram group. It was one of a series of audio clips and text messages in which Synth was joking with other community members. The context in which the clip was first posted can be seen by visiting the main Skycoin Telegram channel, where the discussion remains in the chat history.

This is a direct link to the original clip.

A screenshot from Telegram is shown to the left. Synth posts “/s” immediately after the clip (the 01:52 clip half way down the screenshot). This is internet shorthand for “sarcasm”.

Other community members also post “/s” and laugh along with the obvious joke.

This audio clip was then taken out of context by “Jared Dunn” and the speed was slowed down, with a reverberation effect added to make it sound sinister.

By comparing the original audio with the version posted by “Jared Dunn” in his Twitter post, it’s obvious that the clip was edited for nefarious reasons.

The “insider trading” group that Synth joked about in the clip was simply a public Telegram channel dedicated to trading and price discussion. The Skycoin administrators discourage price and trading talk in the main Skycoin Telegram channel, which is intended for more general discussion about the project, and there is a separate Skycoin Trading channel for users who wish to discuss coin prices.

There was never any insider trading. There was an inside joke, which was taken out of context and manipulated by the fudders as part of their eternal crusade to attack the Skycoin project, because they regard Skycoin as a threat to whatever token or fork they’ve invested in.

The Twitter account of “Jared Dunn” appears to be promoting PiedPiperCoin, and he also appears to be on friendly terms with the Substratum project, as illustrated by this tweet.

In February 2019, a user on Reddit, ZoranSlaveski, posted this thread in which he lamented that he had lost 94% of his capital (more than $100K) by investing in Substratum tokens.

Even more interesting were his revelations within the thread comments that he had also been part of a secret Substratum “paid FUD group” that conspired to continuously attack the Skycoin project on Reddit, Twitter, 4Chan, and even on Skycoin’s own Telegram channels.

The existence of this fud group was also confirmed by Twitter user Brian Li.

A search through ZoranSlaveski’s Reddit history indeed confirms that he had been fudding Skycoin months before. ZoranSlaveski also revealed that his group was responsible for fabricating the insider trading story.

On 27 Feb 2019, an hour after his FUD was exposed on Twitter, “Jared Dunn” deleted his Twitter account. For a limited time, his Twitter account will still be available on Google Cache.

References to his original defamatory tweet about Skycoin still exist all over the Internet, because his false allegations were widely reported by the media.

It’s likely that “Jared Dunn” deleted his Twitter account because he feared the legal repercussions that might now result from his libelous tweet.

Crypto Zombie discusses the Substratum FUD group in the YouTube video below.