First of all, I had no intention of publishing any article at this moment. I thought I would wait a few days and then clarify everything properly. But the amount of tags I am getting every minute is insane. That is why I am writing this article right now.
Let u know that I have been posting about Zama since the beginning and had no other benefits for posting about Zama other than the rewards in the content creator program same like you.
Later, Zama announced token sale for OG NFT Holders as well as for public users and pre-market was launched before the sale.
Usere are already hyped about the fact that OG NFT is obvious cook blah blah. The whole TL was all about Zama, those who are eligible for OGs are posting hopium tweet, overall everyone was pretty bullish on Zama.
Now, in the article of Zama public sale, they mentioned about promo code, using which users can actually get 5% token bonus on their accepted bid.
So, I reached out to Rand, asking about the code, how users will get it. Here is the response from Rand, no team member offered me any such code till then. So, the assumption that Zama team offered me code personally is totally wrong.
From the response, I thought they might do any campaign with any project in their ecosystem, did not know that trusted partners are KOL at that moment.
From the below comment, u can also understand that I was unaware about the code was for KOLs, u can check the date and time as well from both screeenshot
Now before the sale starts, I got a lot of DMs asking for bonus code, so I directly commented under tweet of Zama intern
From the word "few" u can also understand that I thought code was limited and usuable only once per user at that point.
After that comment, I was reached out by their CM
Now the assumption that I was promoting Zama for my personal benifit is totally wrong, I had no other benefit than the creator reward program just like u all.
The only thing I used to do in Rand DM's is sending communities KYC related isssues. Nothing else.
That day, I received this bonus code => ZSV209, at first I used this and later I send it to some of my friends to confirm if it is usable once or multiple times. They confirmed it is usable even though I already used. Till then, I had no idea that is my refer code as well.
The next day, I posted this tweet mentioning the bonus code with proper disclaimer and properly mentioned about doing your own research and I am not liable for any financial loss :
A lot of u were laughing then when I put this disclaimer but I saw previously how community users reacted to cat and wale after ICO loss.
Anyway, till then, I had no idea about the fact that it was my refer code as well. Only when I saw guy posting his refer link and unique code like : VIETNAMCOMMUNITY cuz mine was random code
So, I reached out to CM again to ask about the difference between the refer link and the bonus, only that day, I came to know that I will also get 5% bonus as well.
I only tried to help users, it was not that I knew beforehand that it was my refer code and that is why, all my previous tweet contains the code as bonus code and when I came to know that it is my refer code, I posted the link directly.
So the assumption that I was posting about zama sale for the code is totally wrong as well as misleading. And it is not that I posted about Zama sale only because I got code or something, check my all my previous tweets, it is not that I suddenly started promoting Zama because of this code.
That is the whole story from my side, now let's answer all the questions asked by you all.
1/ Why did not u call out Rand even though the listing price goes below the auction price?
I was ranked 1 in Humanity Protocol, but their founder was scammer and messed with the airdrop distribution, so he wanted to give me only $2K where I supposed to receive more than $50K to $100K and even more I guess. Therefore, I publically posted all things on X, called out the founder, at the end nothing happens. So, that's why, I preffered to reach out to Rand directly in DM over publically calling him out, cuz the situation would be more worsen. I asked about his current plan, how he want to move forward and also suggested him what could be done. The answer I received is like they will do all the possible things but that would take times, the current market is bleeding.
2/ Why did u asked to bid us above $0.05 when other influencers are suggesting to bid us at lower price?
First of all, there are no single tweet of mine where I mentioned or asked or forced anyone to bid above $0.05, Many of you already know that I often post dune dashboard for different projects, so that is why I also created a dune dashboard mentioning the possible clearing price based on completely mathematical formula and blockchain data, the dashboard is still published, u can cross verify the sql code as well. I published this dashboard 1hr before the sale ends and the clearing price was already $0.045 at that time before my posting which is already higher than the other influencers, it is not like that I pulled the bid price. Beside this, everyone was waiting to bid at the last moment, so it is obvious that the bid price would be higher as more bid will be placed at the last time. None of my tweet actually contained any type of FDV or price prediction other influencers often do, all of my tweet was totally for informational purpose and even in the last tweet I clearly mentioned this : "In the end, do not let your emotions control you. Only bid at a price you think is fair for you" . And the fact everyone is forgetting is that everyone was actually considering the pre-market price for bidding.
3/ You are an influencer, u have influence over your community users, posting DYOR or NFA will not make free from taking responsibility.
I agree, but again, as I have influence over other community users, if I ask $100 from them, will they give me without expecting nothing in return? Most probably no. So, this clearly shows that fact u did not only invest in the project just becaue I posted tweet, u also expected profit from the project as well, so why not considering about your greed? why the all blame is coming towards me, FYI, none of my tweet is actually is in a tone of promoting Zama, everything was informational with proper disclaimer whervere possible. But but but, still I tried my best to suggest possible things to the founder of Zama and they replied they will do their best but will take time. Now it is totally upon them.
4/ You are an influencer, you need to do proper research about them before posting.
Yeah exacty, I did, they had strong privacy narrative which is even quantum resistance, had good backers, had huge funding as well as well notable team members like Pascal Paillier who invented Paillier cryptosystem : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paillier_cryptosystem, but yet they did not perform well, fyi, even Anon Vee who often choose quality project, invested $100K in this project, the fact that everyone expected much better result than this but this happened which is literally no one could predict before. Even, the influnecers who are posting about their own experience that they asked to bid in this range, in that range, if u look at their past history, they also posted such ICO which literally rekt users more than Zama plus some of them even posted Powerloom Protocol node sale as well which was scam. The thing is not everything would go well even after researching, things like what happpened with Zama was literally not predictible, at all. So blaming me would not solve anything at all, there are nothing I can do, I tool every measures from posting disclaimer to refrain myself from posting tweet in such way that could lead them to invest, all of my tweets tone was neutral as well as informational.
5/ Why did you not disclose the bonus in the tweet and why are you taking a commission fee behind the scenes? Many of us would not have invested in this project if we had known about the commission
First of all, if you say that "many of us would not have invested in this project if we had known about the commission" then let u know this bonus code is actually save u from loss by 5% as you also got this bonus by using my code, and moreover a lot of you were asking for bonus and that is why I commented under their tweet and got bonus code which I already mentioned above. Plus, if you are investing in the sale, u already have seen the clear terms and condition, u knew everything beforehand, there are literally nothing to do about the bonus what I will receive. Plus, when I came to know about the fact bonus code == refer code, I clearly posted the refer link directly instead of bonus code as well, so there were no undisclosed promotion, at least from me. Now regarding the bonus, till now, I did not receive a single portion of the bonus so how can I post about this what I did not receive yet?
As an influencer, I cover multiple projects, share updates, create dashboards and post content on a daily basis, not everything is going to turn out perfectly, that is the reality of this space. Even the most well-researched projects can underperform in ways nobody can predict.
My job is to share information, but your job is to filter that information through your own research before putting your money into anything. That responsibility will always be yours and that is not me running from accountability, that is simply how investing works. If you are investing based solely on what one person posts on X without doing your own due diligence, the problem is not the influencer, the problem is your approach to investing.
Moving forward, I will be more diligent in understanding every detail of what I share before I share it, because your trust matters more to me than any project. But I also urge each of you to treat every single investment decision as your own, do your own research, assess your own risk and never invest more than you can afford to lose, no matter who is posting about it. I appreciate those of you who gave me the chance to explain my side before passing judgment.
