DeAndre Cortez Way, better known as Soulja Boy, is a famous American rapper and music producer. He became popular with his hit song “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” in 2007. Recently, he has been in trouble again because of his involvement in promoting cryptocurrencies and NFTs (non-fungible tokens).
This time, the on-chain analytics platform, BubbleMaps, has brought the issue to light, criticizing his past actions in the crypto world.
Soulja Boy’s Apology
Soulja Boy took to social media to explain his actions. In a tweet, he said he didn’t know that Sahil Arora, a well-known promoter of dubious crypto projects, was paying him to promote scams. Soulja Boy admitted that he accepted paid promotions in the past without really understanding how cryptocurrencies or NFTs worked.
He apologized to anyone who lost money because of these promotions and shared that he has learned from his mistakes. He posted, “Growth is learning from mistakes.”
Public Reaction to His Apology
Despite his apology, people on social media were not convinced. For example, BubbleMaps criticized him, saying that Soulja Boy has been involved in promoting scam projects for quite some time. They even created a sarcastic timeline of his actions: he promoted scam tokens in 2021, made money, watched the projects fail, stayed silent for years, then returned to launch new failed crypto projects on the PumpFun platform.
After being exposed by BubbleMaps, Soulja Boy reportedly blocked the platform on social media. He also blamed Sahil Arora for much of the controversy and tried to present himself as a changed person. However, critics argue that he keeps repeating his past behavior by jumping back into similar projects.
History of Crypto and NFT Promotions
One of the main people who exposed Soulja Boy’s history with crypto scams is ZachXBT, a Web3 investigator known for uncovering fraud in the crypto world. In 2023, ZachXBT shared that Soulja Boy was connected to 73 cryptocurrency promotions and 16 NFT projects that turned out to be scams. Over time, the rapper allegedly earned over $730,000 from these promotions.
These findings drew criticism from the crypto community. Many people questioned whether Soulja Boy, as a public figure, was responsible for the harm caused to his fans and investors. Critics pointed out that even if he didn’t know about the scams, his repeated promotion of risky projects has damaged trust in the cryptocurrency industry.
Previous Legal Trouble
This isn’t the first time Soulja Boy has faced legal troubles related to cryptocurrencies. In 2022, he, along with other celebrities like Nick Carter, Ben Phillips, and Lil Yachty, was sued for promoting a cryptocurrency project called SafeMoon. The project eventually failed, and they were accused of misleading investors through dishonest promotions.
In these lawsuits, the celebrities were blamed for encouraging people to invest in a project that seemed trustworthy but ended up losing value, costing many investors their money.