Brian Nguyen, a crypto investor, on Friday lost close to $470,000 after investing the sum in a “dubious” cryptocurrency project known as AnubisDAO.
A shocked Nguyen was lost for words after he “unexpectedly woke up” only to discover the money dissipated into the ether. “[It’s] pretty painful”, he says.
But Nguyen also blames himself for the loss, admitting he failed to exhaustively scrutinize the crypto project before investing in it. “We, in crypto, tend to have a ‘buy first, do research later’ mentality”.
That said, it’s still unclear about what happened to the cryptocurrency project. But it appears AnubisDAO raised nearly $60 million after selling its crypto token (ANKH).
Was it a phishing attack?
DAO (or a decentralized autonomous organization) runs on blockchain technology. And can be loosely defined as an online community with a shared bank account.
Cooper Turley, a DAO builder, and investor say although Anubis posed as a DAO, the details about the project’s purpose are still unclear.
Nguyen and many others who invested in the dubious crypto project say the $60 million funds held in AnubisDAO were transferred and later went missing.
Some people believe this was a phishing attack, others think AnubisDAO was purely a “rug-pull” — or a crypto scam where developers’ build a crypto project and take to the hills leaving behind people’s investment.
Whatever it is, AnubisDAO wasn’t either (and there’s nothing to prove its existence).
AnubisDAO “was appealing”
Nguyen says he invested in AnubisDAO because it looked more appealing, adding the project’s marketing was also impressive.
According to him, AnubisDAO bore all the hallmarks of a genuine crypto project including its’ marketing, which was similar to other popular dog-inspired cryptos. (Think Shiba Inu or Dogecoin).
And since the crypto token sale was on Copper Launch, a renowned crowdfunding platform, Nguyen knew for certain AnubisDAO was legitimate enough to invest in.
Nguyen was even more convinced to buy the token when rumors had it that @0xSisyphus — a popular anonymous cryptocurrency influencer who Nguyen adores — supports AnubisDAO.
“So, I had some conviction on the buy” (much to his eternal regret).
Before the incident, @0xSisyphus tweeted about the sale of AnubisDAO. Then on Friday, he tweeted again claiming the crypto project was “clearly compromised”. In other words, he was distancing himself from the AnubisDAO situation.
The crypto influencer has since put up a $4 million bounty on anyone with information leading to the lost funds.
As more people began tweeting and sharing their money-losing tales on Reddit, AnubisDAO tweeted claiming the error was deployed from Cooper’s [Launch] side. Cooper, on the other hand, denied the claims throwing the ball back to AnubisDAO.
It’s not uncommon for investors to lose funds in such crypto projects. If it’s a scam or a phishing attack, money is unlikely to be wired back to investors.
