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LONDON — Logan Paul, the massively popular social media personality, is facing fresh questions over his cryptocurrency dealings amid ongoing concerns he may have profited from misleading fans.
The BBC has seen new evidence suggesting he promoted investments without revealing he had a financial interest in them.
The influence of Paul – whose YouTube channel has more than 23 million followers – appears to have caused prices in these investments to spike, leading to suggestions he could have profited from sales of any tokens he held.
Paul also currently faces a multi-million-dollar lawsuit over a failed crypto project called CryptoZoo.
He denies any wrongdoing.
The BBC has discovered that shortly before Paul tweeted about a particular crypto coin in 2021, an anonymous crypto wallet with close connections to his public wallet had traded in the coin.
That anonymous wallet went on to make a $120,000 (£92,000) profit.
Crypto wallets (which can be physical devices or an online service) hold users’ keys to their accounts, and let people send, receive and spend crypto.
Our finding comes after Time Magazine reported similar activity involving a different cryptocurrency and another anonymous wallet.
For several months, Paul refused to talk to the BBC about our investigation. Then he appeared to relent, inviting us to interview him at his gym in Puerto Rico.
However, when our crew arrived, a Logan Paul lookalike turned up in the YouTuber’s place, shortly followed by a crowd shouting abuse about the BBC.
Minutes after abandoning the interview, we received a lawyer’s letter on behalf of Paul, warning us of the possible consequences if we published our findings.
Logan Paul built a worldwide following as an internet celebrity by uploading short video clips, first to the now-closed platform Vine, and then on YouTube.
About three years ago, Paul’s videos began mentioning cryptocurrency (crypto, as it is commonly known) more and more.
Crypto is a form of digital money that uses secure technology to work, without the need for a central bank.
In 2021, Paul promoted a series of extremely high-risk crypto tokens called “meme coins”.
These are usually inspired by internet jokes or memes and are supported by online communities. Meme coins have no other real purpose other than to be traded and, since they have no intrinsic worth, their value can – and often does – drop to zero.
Paul extolled the virtues of an Elon Musk-themed meme coin known as Elongate. “Elongate made me rich. Elon baby let’s go!” Paul announced in a video clip to Maverick Club, his subscription-only fan club.
Following this namecheck, the price of Elongate rose by over 6,000% to an all-time high. It then remained at that price for a few hours before it crashed.
We cannot be sure of Logan Paul’s intentions when he released his clip. However, it seems likely that his mention of Elongate affected its price.
Tech journalist Will Gotsegen says crypto is a market driven to some extent by social media and influencers: “A big guy with a lot of influence… someone like Logan Paul, buys a tonne of crypto and tells their followers about it. They’re going to buy it too.”
The anonymous crypto wallet analysed by the BBC appears to have close connections to Paul.
Anyone can see the transactions made by a wallet, but the owner can choose to remain anonymous. If an owner attaches their name or personal details it becomes a public wallet.
We could see that the wallet first received funds in February 2021 from a public wallet owned by Logan Paul. It then started buying and trading crypto. — BBC
