Many ICOs have raised millions, only to then disappear with the investors money in what is known as an ‘exit scam’. One such project to raise millions in their ICO was Savedroid, a German company founded by a man named Dr. Yassin Hankir. The company raised a total of $50 million through their ICO and direct funding. The team promised to develop an AI to manage user investments along with a crypto-backed credit card.
Then Dr. Hankir decided to flee the country on April 18th with all $50 million in tow. And while he was waiting for his flight to come in at the airport, he chose to thank his loyal followers with a Twitter selfie and a cheeky message: “Thanks guys! Over and out …”
Thanks guys! Over and out … #savedroidICO pic.twitter.com/PMRtjlbEdD
— Yassin Hankir #savedroidico (@YassinHankir) April 18, 2018
Now for the plot twist….Dr. Yassin Hankir has posted a video, declaring that the entire incident was a PR stunt to show how vulnerable investors are to ICO scams. He calls for greater regulation in order to protect investors from being harmed by a development team just absconding with any raised funds. Here is the video he has posted:
Hankir revealed that all of this was just a ‘drastic campaign’ played to highlight how easy it, in fact, is for ICOs to run away with their investors’ money:
“If we look to this market, and this is what we have experienced in the last 4 months, we saw that there is so much scam happening, scam from the beginning to the end of the ICO…exit scams all over the place. We believe, what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. The question is how can we change that? And I think it should change. We all have a common goal, we want this market —the crypto market, the ICO market— to be sustainable for innovative startups. That is why we wanted to send this very drastic message by just saying how easy it could have been that we even as a highly regulated German corporation, we could have just run away…. then exit scam with all the funds, leaving all the investors behind.”
So the result of this PR stunt is that Savedroid has in fact managed to bring the limelight back to the vital issue — ICOs need to be better regulated, and investors need to be smarter and more cautious about investing in them.
https://twitter.com/iamjosephyoung/status/986970659984105473
However, is staging a fake exit scam the best way to go about this? Opinion is certainly divided, what do you think, please have your say in our comments sections below.
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