By James Davis
As inflation continues to rise, making products expensive, people are now looking for other ways online to generate more income to meet their needs. Scammers are aware of desperate individuals, so they have found a way to rob them of their money through fake crypto projects. Luckily, there are crypto detectives who expose these scam projects to help investors take caution. One of them is YouTuber Stephen Findeisen, popularly known as Coffezilla.
If you keep reading this article, you will learn the importance of Coffeezilla in the crypto world and some of the scams he has uncovered over the years.
More About Coffezilla
Coffezilla is a US-based YouTuber boasting more than 3 million subscribers on his channel, which was started in 2018. He ran his YouTube channel pseudonymously for two years until 2020 when he decided to dox himself.
What Coffeezilla Does
As stated earlier, Coffezilla focuses on identifying and exposing crypto scams. He became a prominent crypto player when he began revealing how most Web3 projects use well-known influencers to market pump-and-dump schemes. Among the influencers that Coffezilla has exposed include Logan Paul, Jake Paul, and Dillion Danis.
Why Did Coffeezilla Decide to Investigate Crypto Scams?
In 2022, podcaster Lex Freidman hosted Coffeezila in his show, where the YouTuber said he got interested in investigating scams while in college when he witnessed his friends being recruited to a scam project through a multi-marketing strategy. Coffeezila said that incident motivated him to start hunting down and exposing scammers.
When he learned about crypto, the YouTuber realized the nascent industry had a huge problem with scam projects, but only a few people were interested in addressing it. He, therefore, decided to start exposing bad actors in the crypto space.
Challenges That Coffezilla Face
Coffeezilla has faced backlash for calling out influencers who promote scam projects. Some of the influencers have taken legal action against the YouTuber. Moreover, supporters of those scam projects have attacked Coffeezila severally, with some threatening to track him down and attack him physically.
Importance of Coffeezilla
The emergence of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology has offered new ways for people to make money online. However, not all projects in this space are genuine. Some only want to raise funds from innocent investors and disappear. Crypto detectives like Coffeezilla aim to make the industry safe by exposing scams and holding developers accountable.
Moreover, Coffeezilla’s investigations serve as a guide for investors looking to inject funds into crypto projects.
How Coffeezilla Makes Money
Most of Coffeezilla’s revenues are likely generated from YouTube ads. The video streaming platform usually shares a portion of its ad revenue with content creators. It is worth mentioning that Coffeezilla does not accept any sponsors.
Another way that the YouTuber makes money is through selling access to his exclusive content, which costs $5 per month.
Some of the Notable Scams Exposed by Coffezilla
Here are the notable scams in the crypto space that the YouTuber has exposed:
CryptoZoo
Online influencer Logan Paul began promoting CryptoZoo, an alleged play-to-earn game, in September 2021. The project promised holders of its NFTs several benefits, but it didn’t keep its word. Last year, Coffeezila made a video accusing Paul and the CryptoZoo developers of cashing out investors’ funds.
At the time, Paul threatened to take legal action against the YouTuber, but he ended up not filing a lawsuit. In mid-2022, the online influencer apologized to CryptoZoo investors and Coffeezilla, promising to refund the NFT holders using his own money. However, as of September 2023, that has yet to happen.
Safemoon
This project entered the crypto in 2021. Logal Paul, along with other celebrities like Nick Carter and Lil’ Yachty, promoted Safemoon, thus boosting its visibility. The token had no utility. In May 2022, Coffeezilla released a video explaining why he believed the Safemoon developers were rug-pulling investors. He revealed that the project’s code had been adopted from another crypto project that rug-pulled its investors.
A few months later, the Safemoon leaders and influencers saw charges brought against them for pumping and dumping the token.