YouTube Crypto Shiller ‘KSI’ Loses $2.8 Million in Terra Collapse

YouTuber JJ Olatunji, better known as English rapper KSI, has gone public with the admission that the US$2.8 million he invested in Terra shrank to a mere $1,000 within 24 hours:

My 2.8 million dollars is literally worth $1000

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah I’m packing this in 😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/qeiVN5yG2w

— KSICRYPTO (@ksicrypto) May 12, 2022

The announcement has left onlookers and KSI’s followers questioning what compelled him to buy into LUNA’s crash in the first place.

Motivation to Invest Remains a Mystery

The reason KSI chose to invest in Terra is unknown, given that the company was, and still is, severely crashing. KSI did state earlier last week that he intended to hold his share long-term.

However, the LUNA token is of unlimited supply and suffering the effects of serious hyperinflation:

$LUNA supply is unlimited guys. It will trend asymptotically towards 0 but never hit 0

$100, $10, $1, $0.10, $0.01, $0.001, $0.0001 and so on, until the peg is regained or liquidity is 0.

Don’t buy at $0.01 thinking it will go back to $10. You’re getting hyperinflated

— jxn.eth ⌐◨-◨ 🍊 (@jxn_eth) May 12, 2022

KSI has already lost a significant amount of crypto this year, and last week shared a tweet acknowledging the error of his ways:

Before crypto, money was a driving force in my mindset. During my time, I made a lot of money, and lost a lot of money. I went from euphoric to depressed. But soon I became numb to it all and realised that money simply isn’t everything.

— KSICRYPTO (@ksicrypto) May 12, 2022

Terra Collapse’s DeFi Knock-On Effect

Following the sudden de-pegging of TerraUSD (UST) and the subsequent decline of Terra (LUNA), there has been a significant knock-on effect on the wider DeFi market. The issue has extended beyond the borders of the Terra ecosystem and is impacting DeFi tokens across all blockchains, with the entire DeFi market dropping by 21 percent over the 24 hours of May 12.

YouTubers’ Dodgy Crypto Deals

Unfortunately, interaction with, and the promotion of, dodgy crypto deals seem to be a trend among famous YouTubers. Two of the most notable instances of this are:

• Paul Denino’s (Ice Poseidon) admission that he scammed his fans out of US$500,000 thanks to a crypto pump-and-dump scheme. Denino offered little remorse on being called out.

• Logan Paul’s promotion of the shitcoin ‘Dink Donk’ earned him a place at the centre of a pump-and-dump scandal as the coin crashed by 95 percent in just two weeks.

The back end of 2021 also saw Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) working hard to prevent hackers from hijacking YouTube channels to utilise them for the promotion of crypto scams. These phishing campaigns have reportedly been an issue since 2019.