Whalechart Exposed: Uncovering the Secrets Behind One of Crypto's Most Infamous Scammers
The world relies on X as the digital town square. Among the benefits associated with being the digital town square, one of the key reasons people use X is for a news source.
Over past years, there has been a scammer known as Mr Whale, who constantly posts crypto news on X (with no sources), while spreading fake news and enabling scams. He has since launched new accounts after being banned on X, which I reported on.
As it turns out, there happens to be a clone of this account, titled Whalechart, who seemingly has taken Mr Whale's idea to another level. He also seems to be a fan of BSV, an altcoin started by Faketoshi.
It appears that Whalechart, simply by glancing at the above photo, is a popular "news" X account used by people in the BSV space. This story is bigger than just BSV, because unfortunately, many people other than BSVers with large audiences like BitBoy also seem to rely on Whalechart as a news source.
The person behind it is real
Whalechart is undeniably one of the most influential accounts in the crypto industry since it boasts over 600k followers and has popular YouTubers like Ben Armstrong using it as a news source. Whoever is behind the account does not appear to be a bot since it responds to replies and expresses opinions.
To seal the deal, the writer behind the scheme has strong English skills, and is verified by X premium with a real phone number.
Bots serve as a better news source
Whalechart makes a laughable claim in his X bio:
"#1 Account to follow for the latest news, insights and contrarian opinions in crypto, finance and politics."
When you claim to be the "#1 account for the latest news," but violate every principle associated with the term "journalism," you're not a news account, but a spreader of misinformation in sheep's clothing.
Whalechart's "insights and contrarian opinions" are simply a translation for BSV marketing.
BREAKING:
— whalechart (@WhaleChart) May 1, 2023
JPMorgan Chase acquires First Republic Bank in second-largest U.S. bank failure
The above post is a classic example of Whalechart posting real news with no source. While it can be argued that no source is needed in some instances, like large stories such as above, Whalechart rarely ever posts a single source. Naturally, this also means that Whalechart appears to not even check the sources of headlines he reposts, making him one of crypto's top spreaders of fake news.
For example, in March, Whalechart reposted the title of a satirical news story written by the Bitcoin Bugle discussing Vitalik Buterin landing a date with Tom Brady's ex-wife, Gisele Bündchen. After seeing this, I corrected Whalechart's post about the situation; a story which made its way to investing.com.
It's satire, seems you can't separate fact from fiction, it's interesting to wonder how many other of your tweets are wrong https://t.co/Vso5YcZ7zF
— CoinControversy (@CoinControversy) March 22, 2023
The metrics achieved by Whalechart are staggering; this fake news tweet reached over 2,000 likes and 460 retweets.
To put it simply, you are better off using a reposter bot like storewire than Whalechart for news because at the very least, it links sources on every tweet. This shows the remarkably low bar that Whalechart sets, since X bots deliver higher quality news.
A BSVer in disguise
Whalechart's sentiment in the above tweet couldn't be any clearer:
"Craig Wright is Satoshi Nakamoto"
A somewhat intelligent individual would not make a statement like this unless they had an agenda attached to it. Logically, an individual who spends this amount of free time promoting BSV is likely not doing it out of kindness.
Whalechart is so bad at his self-declared job of being a news provider, that one of the few sources he trusts is Craig Wright himself. The below interaction was about misinformation Faketoshi spread concerning the amount of Bitcoin being sold on exchanges.
The era of USD is over.
— whalechart (@WhaleChart) April 14, 2023
The era of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is here.
Such as above, Whalechart posts neutral tweets to hide that he shills BSV. Though, if you are aware of the account's tactics, it is easy to see when Whalechart pulls these antics. He'll go right back to bashing Bitcoin when the chance is there, as you can see.
Memecoins make a lot of people rich, not Bitcoin.
— whalechart (@WhaleChart) April 30, 2023
He's also a BSV NFT promoter
I minted 300 NFTs on BSV for less than $1.
— whalechart (@WhaleChart) March 25, 2023
Is that possible on BTC? pic.twitter.com/UOZvV2SB7q
Whalechart is also a BSV NFT titan. He recently advertised his NFT profile on X, boasting about the low cost of the transactions. Of course, he's simply doing this to steer people away from the real Bitcoin and over to fake Bitcoin. So, even if you could mint NFTs for such a cheap price, it wouldn't matter because the underlying coin, BSV, is highly centralized, as previously described.
There is simply no upside in holding this Bitcoin copycat.
The Telegram group scam
Telegram is crypto's favorite messaging app by far. As such, it is not a surprise that Whalechart has hundreds of people in a Telegram group following his "pro trades," even though most are likely bots.
The above screenshot displays Whalechart convincing random people to buy a shady altcoin only available on "dextools.com" and Bitmart. This is just one of many examples of Whalechart trying to convince people in his Telegram group to buy these obscure tokens.
Whalechart's identity
The account was created in 2015, three years before the creation of BSV, so this person was involved in crypto before BSV.
"Whalechart" made a blunder in the above post about Adam Back, the CEO of Blockstream, which he realized and soon deleted. It was far too sudden to capture on web archive, but the original link is provided.
Importantly, writing mannerisms associated with Whalechart (such as above) are highly familiar, because they have been seen throughout the BSV community since its inception in 2018.
Among possible candidates, is one person who is similar to Whalechart: CoinGeek Chief BSV Historian Kurt Wuckert Jr. He is a paid writer/host with a job designed to spread Faketoshi's falsehoods through the BSV media arm, CoinGeek. While Wuckert uses the same BSV rhetoric that Whalechart exemplifies, he clearly doesn't have the time to run the account. The likely answer is more complex.
A researcher determined in 2022 that Whalechart is a Norwegian man named Magnus Vollen. The evidence is convincing, but it is unclear how he has such influence in the BSV space and who helps him. In any case, Whalechart should not be trusted if you value your hard earned money.
Conclusion
Whalechart's key functions appear to be serving as a vehicle for BSV propaganda, while simultaneuosly scamming people through his Telegram group and maintaining a thin veil of cover by reposting other crypto news largely without sources.
The point of this article was to shine a light on the dangers of blindly trusting random, untrustworthy accounts on social media for news. This is especially magnified due to the content of Whalechart's posts being solely a combination of BSV and other altcoins.
As such, people's finances are on the line and relying on accurate information is key to making informed decisions on investments. Whalechart fails miserably at his purpose and is not a suitable follow for any person.
Article Disclaimer: The information in this article is based on research and represents the author's opinion, not established fact. Readers should evaluate independently.
