A tweet by @6BillionPeople, a user with 4.63 million followers interested in his cryptocurrency predictions and advice, sent the Verge cryptocurrency market into chaos on Christmas Day. In the tweet, shown below, @6BillionPeople urges his followers to quickly sell their Verge cryptocurrency, due to alleged internal problems within the Verge development team. This tweet was liked and retweeted numerous times, causing it to spread rapidly.
The value of Verge quickly tanked in response to this tweet as investors dumped their coins, trying to get any value out of them while they still could. The value of Verge on Binance dropped from a previous high of 2000 Satoshis (~0.27USD) to a low of 622 Satoshis (~0.09USD) in a matter of minutes – a 69% reduction.
177 million Verge coins were sold in the hour following the initial tweet on the Binance exchange alone – 8x more than the usual hourly volume. This increased trading volume was sustained for at least 2 more hours, as seen on the Binance chart below. At a loss of 18 cents per coin sold, more than 32 million dollars were scammed from Verge investors in just one hour, on just one exchange.
This hoax didn’t just affect uninformed investors, but also people who intended to hold for the long term. Many users make use of the stop-loss functionality on exchanges just in case things legitimately go south. The purpose of a stop-loss is to sell assets once the price hits a predetermined minimum. In this case, since the value was dropped by fake news, many users had their stop-loss activate and dump all of their Verge coins for nothing – causing them to lose millions while eating Christmas lunch.
@6BillionPeople later stated that he did not post the initial tweet and that he was hacked, before deleting everything. Funnily enough, his Patreon must also have been hacked at the same time, as the message was also posted there. This is just one of many reasons why you should not trust random Twitter users to give you financial advice. It’s also a good example of why everyone should use two-factor authentication!
This ordeal demonstrates the tactics that market manipulators use to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the community. By starting rumours and spreading fake news, these people can cause rapid market changes, allowing them to load up on cheap cryptocurrencies. Strangely enough, a new Verge wallet was created the same day that the tweet was posted which quickly gained Verge coins until it was the number 1 largest balance of Verge in a single wallet. This wallet now contains more than 14% of all existing Verge coins – a total worth of over $553 million US at the $0.27 Verge high point.
The Verge team themselves even posted a tweet later on confirming that there were no problems internally, and that the project was about to be better than ever with the addition of the Wraith update.
Even hours after the tweet was revealed to be a hoax, the value of Verge is still feeling the effects. The traded price on Binance almost 12 hours after the initial tweet is only 1000 Satoshis – half of its original value. If there’s anything positive at all about this situation, it’s that now is a great time for new or hesitant investors to jump on board. The low price we’re seeing right now will not last. The Verge development team has announced that the Wraith upgrade will be released before 2018; the hype surrounding Wraith will cause the price of Verge to soar. If you are new to Verge, or cryptocurrencies in general, you can follow this guide to invest now.
Wow thanks for making this… I can’t believe he did that, so many people trusting him and following whatever he says to do. Just goes to show we shouldn’t blindly follow famous youtubers who get paid to promote stuff when it comes to our actual finances! The first hordes of uninformed sheeple who trusted this advice are probably thinking they did the right thing with what happened ?
fucking wanker! hope he gets caught and punished
Why is the guide telling you how to buy Ripple instead of Verge?
The guide was originally made for Ripple, but is applicable to all cryptocurrencies. I’ll update the wording, thanks!
I think it’s a good thing. Weeds out the uneducated and creates opportunities for the educated. Next we’ll be calling for regulation to stop people like this guy from posting the tweet he did.
Look, there is this thing called personal responsibility and everyone is entitled to take it or not. Let’s be very careful with the language we use in regards to the people who sold. No one that is educated about Verge and invested in the idea, not invested to make a quick buck, should be worried about seeming losses due to the sell off. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme.
Thanks for the update guys. Both my son and I are engaged in the market and are actively holding Verge with the expectation to acquire more. While I do see more opportunity to buy in with fresh funds, my son isn’t as lucky; He bought in ‘after’ the rush and is holding at a negative until things swell again. I’ve forwarded these communications to him in hopes it will abate his fears.
As for the devious minds who instigate FUD, well karma will eat them up at some point. What comes around goes around.
Thanks again for setting our minds at ease.
Interesting it’s that the same type of fake information was on several channels (Twitter, Facebook, and so on). It spread like fire.
Having experience this with bitcoin and a host of other crypto back in September, I am prepared for whatever thing, win or lose! Regardless of how low a coin false, there is usually only one outcome; will surely bounce back and soar higher
Why would people even consider basing financial decisions on what they read on twitter? Really?
Bleeeh the space is getting flooded with sheeps!
Although this was obviously a hoax, still Verge admin has not helped much with specifics. They are vague and that concerns me as a big holder of Verge. I don’t even know what the Wraith Protocol is, and what it is supposed to do. I am sure it is something that is amazing, as so many people keep talking about it. However, what I do know is that Verge Corp has shown a lack of communication, meaning that they too are uncertain as to the deadline of Wraith. This does concern me, but I will simply hold and watch for New Years to see if they do in fact meet the deadline.
I will tell you this. They miss that deadline and the coin is dropping dramatically.
Then do your own research before investing. Verge is not a “Corp” it is an open source platform not owned by any organisation. If you read anything about verge it’s easy to understand what wraith protocol does and why it’s important. if you know the history of the key developer you know he is self admittedly bad with deadlines.
Wait so you are a “big holder” of verge but have no clue what the tech is behind wraith is? LMAO You’re part of the problem.
He never corrected the fake posts. Even if the other account is fake has he informed Twitter ti take it down? He has a moral duty to monitor that account and post a correction. Surely, if he is as informed as he says he is he is following what is happening to something he promoted.
I would have FUD with anything he says about anything from now on.
Thanks for posting it was obvious deliberate Verge has alot great things going for it and is undervalued it’s a shame some people lost alot with stop loss I’m not one been holding for a year and will continue to hold.
It is a very bad thing that happened but great lesson for all of us investors. Now investors will be so much more careful. Don’t be fear so fast! The deeper the cave, the bigger the diamond! The higher the peak, the more beautiful the view! So rise up again and again everyone!!!
Don’t panik. JUST HOOOLD
the protocol of verge what happened to it? When does it come out?
I also panicked and sold my XVGs. Ahah!
“2/3rds of the economy is driven by personal recommendation” -McKinnsey & Co.
http://xvg.keff.org/core.php
Still waiting for Verges SOLE developer to make it right. I’m sure in time he will fix it all by himself but in the mean time I am pretty sure there will be other projects to replace XVG.
Thanks, still learning about all of this however this helped me.
This site is absolutely fabulous!
Keep up the great work guyz.