Crypto Spam Skyrocketed Over The Past Two Years, Recording A 4000% Increase

Spam and bots have been considered as something completely normal in the digital age, but the past couple of years have seen a tremendous increase in the spam activities, especially in the crypto sector.

According to data from crypto intelligence provider LunarCrush, spam in the crypto sphere has increased by an astonishing 3,894%, as the company also noted that the spam metric is the fastest-growing indicator in the crypto space since 2019.

LunarCrush reported on May 25 that Twitter is the preferred platform for crypto spam, with an increase of 1,374%, or close to 14 times, in terms of spam volumes on the social media.

Source: LunarCrush

Joe Vezzani, the LunarCrush CEO, noted that the problem mostly persists in mainstream social media platforms, as “for a Web2 platform like Twitter, there is a direct incentive to turn a blind eye to fake accounts because it increases the value of their platform.”

In contrast, newer tokenized Web3 platforms like Aave’s Lens Protocol actually want as many genuine users as possible holding the asset rather than trying to extract value from the community, Vezzani added.

Musk halts Twitter acquisition over spam concerns

The amount of spam on one of the largest social media platforms to date was so severe that billionaire and Tesla CEO Elon Musk postponed the acquisition deal until Twitter proves its claim of 95% genuine users. Musk even pushed a poll on the social media platform about the issue.

If Twitter shrinks the number of bots on the network, the follower base for most of the genuine accounts would drop too. SparkToro made the assumption that Musk, for example, would lose as much as 50% of his 95 million followers. Further data from SparkToro highlighted that almost 20% of all active Twitter accounts are fake or spammers.

Why does Musk declare cutting down on crypto scam tweets as a “top priority”?

Musk’s affection for Twitter is evident in his posts while having plans to change the user experience of the major social media platform.

According to Musk, Twitter needs to find a new way to handle controversial content by not promoting certain tweets and adding the ability to edit tweets as well as show that edit history.

“A top priority I would have is eliminating the spam and scam bots and the bot armies that are on Twitter,” said Musk. “They make the product much worse. If I had a Dogecoin for every crypto scam I saw, we’d have 100 billion Dogecoin.” Musk stated in a TED talk in Vancouver in April.

However, Musk’s decision to acquire Twitter has faced feelings on both ends of the spectrum. While many welcomed Musk for his promotion of free speech, others have questioned his seemingly immature behavior on Twitter.

Dogecoin’s co-creator, Jackson Palmer, argued that Musk and free speech may have nothing in common if the Tesla CEO and Dogecoin holder actually get his hands on the social media giant.

“It takes some pretty impressive mental gymnastics to associate any type of ‘freedom’ with the richest man in the world initiating a hostile takeover and forcing one of the largest public social media platforms private,” Palmer noted.

Dogecoin prices unaffected

While many anticipated the crypto of choice by the world’s richest man to explode, Dogecoin remained relatively stable. However, the LUNA crash threw off the crypto market and pushed it into a bearish cycle.

As of press time, Dogecoin’s price remains stable, shaking hands at $0.07795 per DOGE, falling down from $0.14 amidst the LUNA-induced market wipe.