Al-Naji began, under his real name, posting job listings for a new project last fall, according to New York Magzine. It was a buzzy start-up that raised $133 million in funding before shuttering abruptly in 2018 due to SEC concerns. Al-Naji, a Google alum and 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 member, is best known for his company Intangible Labs’ failed cryptocurrency Basis. However, It’s been all but confirmed that Diamondhands is Nader Al-Naji, who pitched some of BitClouts’ investors. Instead its open-source blockchain is powered by user-run nodes. BitClout is “decentralized” claiming to have “no company,” behind it. The site’s original developers are anonymous and its founder only goes by “Diamondhands” seemingly in an attempt to mimic the pseudonymous founder of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
In addition, reports suggest those who’ve complained about their profiles are successful in having them removed, albeit in some cases by filing cease and desist lawsuits, like Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Silicon Valley developer Brandon Curtis. However, users who’ve activated their profiles are clearly marked with a blue check by their names while unclaimed pre-made profiles are marked with a clock. The platform also might be perceived as profiting off of people’s likenesses. Much of the backlash associated with BitClout stems from claims that it is misleading the public by making it appear that celebrities who have nothing to do with the platform use it. It’s true that handful of celebrities have embraced it, from Pamela Anderson, producer Benny Blanco, author Mark Manson, music mogul Scooter Braun and major tech figures like Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, Reddit’s Ohanian, TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington and the Winklevoss twins.īut since the 15,000 profiles from Twitter were taken without their owners knowledge, many of BitClout’s most valuable profiles, including Musk’s, have never been logged into.
Much of BitClout’s legitimacy has also come from famous people who are using it. Joe Rogan, at $3,113, currently out-prices Joe Biden, if that tells you anything about BitClout’s users. But you also can grab some of Ariana Grande’s coin for $8,145, Tiktoker Loren Gray’s for $5,737 or Justin Bieber’s for $5,176. Most of the top 10 are VC and tech influencers (Andy Artz, Chamath Palihapitiya, Balaji Srinivasan, Dharmesh Shah). Musk’s coin has been the most valuable since the platform went live. “Buy your favorites and get on their team,” the site invites. If you thought Robinhood was gamified, take a look at the BitClout leaderboard, on which you can browse a list of profiles of celebrities, influencers and entrepreneurs like a list of stocks and ETFs to invest in. And if, in contrast, he makes a racial slur during a press conference, his coin price should theoretically go down.” Users’ coin price is listed next to their name on every post and comment.Īnyone can create a profile and receive their own coin, but BitClout also launched with the top 15,000 most popular Twitter profiles pre-loaded. As BitClout explains: “If Elon Musk succeeds in landing the first person on Mars, his coin price should theoretically go up. A key difference though is that all interactions are operated on a blockchain and every profile has its own distinct “creator coin” whose value fluctuates with ebbs and flows in their popularity. For logged-in users, it looks like Twitter. Here’s what you need to know about the platform and its possible pitfalls.īitClout is something like what you’d get if you put Robinhood, Twitter and Coinbase in a blender. It’s been called a scam, a Ponzi scheme and worse. Indeed, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen tweeted Thursday: "Just setting up my bitclout."ĭespite the votes of confidence, many observers remain suspicious of BitClout. Some of the platform’s most valuable “assets,” from Jake Paul to Alexis Ohanian to Kygo, have also become active users. BitClout quickly racked up $100 million in funding from VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Social Capital and Coinbase Ventures. That premise could have been written off as far-fetched or craven, but it won serious backers from Silicon Valley. Simply put, it’s a social network that allows you to invest in celebrities and influencers - and speculate on their rise or fall in popularity using cryptocurrency. Its business model is convoluted, origins mysterious and its core function sounds like something ripped from a script for Black Mirror. BitClout arrived on the Internet in March, and quickly attracted controversy.