Long live Nipsey Hussle The Great — An unforgettable line from the day of the funeral of one of the most inspiring Hip-Hop music icons seen since 2pac Shakur. The ‘Marathon’ rapper was buried with honor April 11th of 2019. Unfortunately however, one of his business collaborators has not upheld the Slauson rapper’s pristine reputation and standards. It’s being reported Nipsey Hussle cryptocurrency collab ‘Follow Coin’ was a rug pull scam.
Inking a Deal With FLLW
“Landed in Amsterdam this am…..We Jus signed our partnership agreement with @followcoinltd more info on this coming soon🏁,” the first post Hussle ever made on the FLLW token’s parent project.
This message Nipsey shared via instagram on August 22nd of 2017.
Fans of the rapper immediately went to research the coin brand via their instagram and website. The official site invited users to join a waiting party for the “Initial Coin Offering” or ICO of the cryptocurrency brand.
PreSales To Entice Buyers
Before the ICO could launch however, there were various pre-sales, which offered the ability to buy the Follow Coins native Token, FLLW, at lower rates. And of course, those lower rates before the actual public offering of the token, means higher returns yielded.
This deal lured many fans of the slain rapper to purchase ‘tokens’ on the website’s on-line application. This was before FLLW token launched on any public exchange. Liquidity was not possible. Investors could not cash out after buying in.
According to FollowCoin.io, there were at least 45,000 registrants on the token’s app by the end of 2017. The company had a goal of selling 1-Billion tokens, but only sold half. The cryptocurrency brand burned nearly half-a-billion tokens to supposedly limit ‘crypto whales’ from buying a large quantity of coins in the future. This was important to investors as whales can pump and dump for a profit grab, ruining the market.
Nipsey Hussle Celebrated 4000% Gain Too Early
By April 17th of 2018, the California musician claimed to have 40x returns on the Follow Coin via twitter and instagram. The price of the token went from $0.009 to $0.04 cents.
The Victory Lap rapper captioned a screenshot of his earnings on instagram with , “Ima bout to state a FACT: I got in on @followcoinltd at 1/10 of a penny… it’s now trading at 4 cents. Don’t let them tell you This crypto game is a fraud cuz they lyin. @Vezt is also performing above all expectations 🏁”
This return on investment made many headlines. It also lured millions of people, who followed or were within Nipsey Hussle’s reach to buy into Follow Coin immediately.
However, it was too late to join the party and it’s not clear if even Nipsey was able to pull his funding.
Without the coin being on a public exchange, it has no true liquidity or in layman’s terms, you cannot cash out.
Follow Coin Disappears
Within 60 days of that post, the Follow Coin’s social media profiles and websites stopped making updates. The rug was pulled and investors could do nothing more than wait for their return.
The last post on Instagram on June 1st, 2018 and the profile management claimed the group was at an Ethos Wallet conference.
The truth was, they were just buying more time to cover their tracks and get away.
Angered Investors
One read of Follow Coins’ inactive instagram, says it all.
”i invested in yall in 2018… whats goin on??” replied user @iAmElvisTatoo.
@King7ThePit wrote, “wha gwaan? wha happened to that initial investment I wired? I can’t even log into app.”
“I can’t believe I invested in this fucking crypto,” wrote user @DeeNebs.
One user claimed the company CEO Thomas owes various people.
“Thomas pay your debts!!! and don’t hide, You stole from people you trusted and are now in big financial problems while you are now playing the man” replied @MokkenExpress on another Instagram post.
Follow Coin did reply to one user 233 weeks ago however. And they gave the email marco@followcoin.io for that IG user to reach out. This may be a clue to who the mysterious founders are.
How Much Money Did FLLW Coin Steal ?
The amount of money stolen in the cryptocurrency rug pull is unknown. However, if the app did have 45,000 people registered, the sum is likely the millions.
It was common for cryptocurrency investors to spend $100 to $1000 in a token presale in 2018.
The late rapper’s estate may or may not choose to address the topic going forward. However, it’s definitely clear fans are angered along with other investors. And not just because the Follow Coin company took their money; but because they didn’t even acknowledge Nipsey’s passing in 2019, after he made them so much money.
Other Coins Shared By Nipsey Hussle Were Not Scams
The Slauson singer had several other cryptocurrency investments before his passing. Monero (XMR), Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC), and Vezt (VZT).
His portfolio would have logged major profits if he pulled the gains off the market in May 2021. During the Crypto bull run, the liquid value of Litecoin alone was $347. This was more than double the $137 value shown for the token on his portfolio list in April 2018.
In May 2021, Monero reached a high of $483. At the time of the portfolio share, the XMR coin was valued at $199.73. Again, a price increase of more than double his investment occurred when it hit it’s ATH.
Though the Follow coin was an alleged rug pull, the other coins Nipsey shared with his followers, were big winners. Following his footsteps would have allowed fans to earn over a 100% return on investment. Every $100 invested returned more than $240 with certain investments.
