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Leaked ‘Shill Price List’ Alleges Crypto Influencers Charge Up to USD 25,000 for a Shill Tweet

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Ruholamin Haqshanas

Author

Ruholamin Haqshanas

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Ruholamin Haqshanas is a contributing crypto writer for CryptoNews. He is a crypto and finance journalist with over four years of experience. Ruholamin has been featured in several high-profile crypto...

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Last updated:

October 23, 2023

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Zachxbt, an anonymous crypto researcher and self-proclaimed “on-chain sleuth,” has published an extensive list of crypto influencers and how much they allegedly charge to “shill” crypto projects on Twitter.

Zachxbt told Motherboard that the list came from a “marketing firm” but did not disclose the company’s name. The media site has also contacted 60 of the accounts on the list, some of which verified the accuracy of the list while others claimed that the rates were inaccurate.

In either case, according to the list, Lindsay Lohan, an American actress, singer, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur, charges as much as USD 25,000 for shilling a crypto project and another USD 20,000 for a single retweet.

New influencer shill price list leak 📸 pic.twitter.com/l1MGgqfldv
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 18, 2022

Others on the list, some who specifically say they “shill” crypto projects or call themselves “crypto promoters” or “crypto influencers,” charge from a few hundred dollars to several thousand for a “shill tweet” or a retweet.

“Not everyone on the list does undisclosed shills but the vast majority of names I see on there do,” Zachxbt said, noting that, at times, it would be hard for followers to discern a difference between a promotional post and genuine opinion.

For example, earlier in February, Lohan ostensibly promoted a crypto project called MetaNetflix. “Check out MetaNetflix they have an announcement to make today!” she said, without disclosing if this was a promotion, after which the coin fell to zero.

This is what it gets you https://t.co/hUSFkaztJy
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) April 18, 2022

Meanwhile, Selena Roy, whose Twitter bio says to “DYOR” (Do Your Own Research) and claims she has been in crypto since 2018, told Motherboard that the price on the list “has nothing to do with reality.” She claimed that the projects in her tweets “mostly are the [cryptocurrencies] I am holding, so I promote them,” adding that she sometimes takes money for promotion and “honestly many celebrities do. People like to hear, we research.”

“Honestly I want to clear the fact that anyone who follows you most will realize you do paid promo lol,” she was quoted as saying. “People act like they wouldn’t take money to tweet when 95 percent of people would.”

Just yesterday, Roy apparently promoted an NFT project called VINCI without disclosing if it was an ad. She claimed the project had “100x potential” and asked her more than 63,000 followers to join their presale.

. @byvinci_io is designed to ensure creators have full autonomy on their monetization with the #NFT + experience and real-life utility. Presale is almost 90% 🚀. 100x potential

Explore 🔍 https://t.co/8T6650yMpe for more info #VINCI #art #nftcommunity #music #disruption pic.twitter.com/IsrP0xT1PT
— Selena 🇨🇦💎 (@selenaroyf) April 18, 2022

Meanwhile, Stock Market Hats, another crypto promoter, was also quoted as saying that the figure on the list next to their name is accurate, claiming that they put “a big disclosure and put #ad in all promoted tweets,” but acknowledged that they don’t do much vetting on the projects they promote.

Steve Ascher, a former professional baseball player who put “Not Financial Advice” in his Twitter bio and features a “Zombie Apes” NFT as his profile avatar, claims that the prices on the list are inaccurate.

Ascher said he regularly runs giveaways and also does some paid promotions.

Meanwhile, some crypto users have noted that this is why everyone needs to “avoid all influencers like they have the plague.”

“Social media influencers with crypto could be social media manipulators,” another Reddit user said.