When you're new to cryptocurrencies, you can quickly fall into traps. The more time passes, the more sophisticated the scams become. If for the most advanced profiles, the scams are recognizable from miles away, the beginner may well think he has stumbled upon a so-called good deal.
It is therefore still important to remain vigilant. Today, at the request of some of our readers, we show you why we think SatoshiVM is a great scam. This is typically the kind of project where you need to stay as far away as possible.
Presentation of Satoshi VM
SatoshiVM claims to be a decentralized Layer 2 ZK Rollup solution for Bitcoin that would be compatible withEthereum Virtual Machine (EVM). The layer would use native BTC for transaction fees.
Thus, the idea of SatoshiVM is to enable a link between the EVM ecosystem and Bitcoin, allowing theBitcoin ecosystem to issue tokens and develop applications.
The project is somewhere (in theory) relatively similar to what we saw with the very ambitious BitMV project which had raised numerous debates within the Bitcoin community. However, be careful, even if the two projects have relatively similar objectives, the processes and development are not aligned on the same scale.
As we will show below, SatoshiVM has all the makings of a scam that does not hesitate to use a "legitimate" objective to drown suspicions.
How was the project known?
There is no known bitcoin developer behind this project unlike BitVM which was initiated by the developer Robin Linus, recognized for his remarkable work on ZeroSync. Indeed, the project relies on technology called Zero Knowledge Proof.
On the SatoshiVM project, there is no mention (on the site, in any case) of a developer working on Bitcoin. However, such a project could hardly do without the most brilliant developers of Bitcoin Core. It would not be impossible for an average developer to be able to create this type of project, but it would be technically - let's put it mildly - a feat.
Thus, and unsurprisingly, the promotion of this project was done mainly through influencers on different social networks. Without accusing them of doing shillings, we can perfectly imagine that these hidden advertisements were paid for by the SatoshiVM project teams. We can read on their documentation that 5% of the funds are reserved for marketing and advertising.
This would explain this sudden enthusiasm for this project which appeared out of nowhere. Many videos were released -relatively at the same time- promoting SatoshiVM.
Of course, you may doubt and think that these YouTubers simply wanted to share a project that they consider exciting with their communities. It's possible.
You have the right to think so but be careful of the naivety you can have, without even realizing it.
The reality of Airdrops
It has been observed for some time now that the majority of airdrops were nothing more than hooks to catch beautiful fish. Indeed, today, it is a technique very popular with scammers who seek to attract customers by promising to "give" them tokens for free.
The appeal of the world of care bears seems to work well with the most novice investors. So, SatoshiVM used this same process, unsurprisingly.
We could see on the airdrop alert site, indeed, an invitation to join the testnet by connecting to your wallet. This gave the possibility of receiving tokens during the official launch.
Receive tokens without even investing, therefore. That speaks for itself…
What are the elements that make us doubt the legitimacy of the project?
Launch of the project in a few weeks
The project has only existed for a very short time and in the space of a few weeks, it has more than 100,000 subscribers on its Twitter account. However, there are very few posts and very little interaction. It is not known who is behind the project and although anonymity is not a problem in itself, for this type of project it is not a good sign.
Very obviously, the team paid virtual subscribers to give itself credibility. You know, on networks, unfortunately, it is the number of subscribers that defines your notoriety. However, a good project - as a general rule - benefits from free publicity.
Types of Suspicious Promotions
Promoting on social media by (apparently) paying influencers is a method used by many scams. Paying virtual subscribers. Using spam and internet advertising are also among the least legitimate methods of publicizing a project. There are also no articles on recognized media and blogs dealing with cryptocurrencies.
According to the site PCrisk which analyzes scams on the web, it is noted that linked domain names are also suspicious. Likewise, the site readily concludes that SatoshiVM is a scam.
What is the Satoshi VM scam?
First of all, like any good scam, the project offers an airdrop with a limited list of places. This makes users rush to take advantage of this (they think) golden opportunity to earn satoshis. Satoshis are fractions of bitcoin and therefore this is what is promised to future users.
To find out if they are eligible, nothing could be simpler, we can read on the site. An invitation to connect their wallet will be enough to find out if the user will be able to claim bitcoins for free.
The scam can be twofold depending on the intentions of the team behind the project. They can simply push the purchase of the native VASM token quite simply. The scam is then very simple: it simply involves receiving funds from users which will not be used for the development of the project. A most banal scam.
When is it distribution?
As we can read on the page dedicated to tokenomics, the project follows relatively the same percentages as other projects of the same ilk. The contributors grant themselves 15% of the resources and the ecosystem (?) a percentage of 36%…
The project is clearly not geared towards the distribution of individual investors who are nevertheless very targeted…
Of course, every investor can get an idea of the distribution and judge for themselves.
Final word: Satoshi VM, a scam?
Naturally, we don't have complete science at ZoneBitcoin. We could be wrong. However, experience dictates that, over time, we manage to know when a project is bogus and when a project is promising.
The line can be blurry sometimes, and this may require more research. We realize that many scams today use bitcoin to disguise the scam, such as the far-fetched project of BTC20...
However, here, SatoshiVM seems to be nothing more than a bogus project, bordering on a scam. With tempting promises, customer funds will simply be used to enrich the scammers behind. No more no less.
Of course, maybe some people will make money with this token, especially if they really received it for free, but there will only be a few chosen ones. Most will be fleeced.
Finally, when the token goes to zero (its destiny?), no one will mourn your lost funds. They will tell you that the project did not work (lack of marketing, market or any other reason). Therefore, do not trust anyone, not even yourself.
On that note, see you soon for the debunking of another scam.
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