Post by LFC on Jul 22, 2021 20:55:39 GMT
Yes, it's real. Well, as real as anything Trump and the MAGAts are involved in. And it was hacked pretty quickly.
More than 1,000 people have so far signed up to the pro-Trump cryptocurrency magacoin, including conservative media personalities and Republican figures, the Guardian can reveal.
The news comes after poor security configuration in a website associated with magacoin exposed the email addresses, passwords, cryptocurrency wallet addresses and IP addresses of users who have bought in to what its promoters describe as the “digital currency for the MAGA community”.
The data also reveals that the lion’s share of the cryptocurrency so far produced has been allocated to the self-described creator of magacoin, a pro-Trump consultant who owns an LLC associated with the cryptocurrency, and a Super Pac associated with the same consultant.
The information, provided to the Guardian by a self-described hacktivist, unveils the reality around the cryptocurrency whose creators say it is made “by America First Conservatives out of frustration with ‘Losing the Election’ and a desire to fight back by supporting MAGA candidates”.
The vast majority of those sign-ups have only 100 magacoins, the amount offered free in initial publicity to early sign-ups who can claim their share of “75 million MAGACOINS”. The website, echoing widespread rightwing falsehoods about the 2020 election result, says it chose that number “to represent the 75 million voters who were disenfranchised on November 3rd, 2020”.
Other users, however, have greater holdings, and at least some of them may have taken advantage of the cryptocurrency’s Ambassador Program, in which promoters are offering 1,000 free magacoins to approved radio hosts, media personalities, bloggers and grassroots groups who sign up to help promote the currency to their audience.
The news comes after poor security configuration in a website associated with magacoin exposed the email addresses, passwords, cryptocurrency wallet addresses and IP addresses of users who have bought in to what its promoters describe as the “digital currency for the MAGA community”.
The data also reveals that the lion’s share of the cryptocurrency so far produced has been allocated to the self-described creator of magacoin, a pro-Trump consultant who owns an LLC associated with the cryptocurrency, and a Super Pac associated with the same consultant.
The information, provided to the Guardian by a self-described hacktivist, unveils the reality around the cryptocurrency whose creators say it is made “by America First Conservatives out of frustration with ‘Losing the Election’ and a desire to fight back by supporting MAGA candidates”.
The vast majority of those sign-ups have only 100 magacoins, the amount offered free in initial publicity to early sign-ups who can claim their share of “75 million MAGACOINS”. The website, echoing widespread rightwing falsehoods about the 2020 election result, says it chose that number “to represent the 75 million voters who were disenfranchised on November 3rd, 2020”.
Other users, however, have greater holdings, and at least some of them may have taken advantage of the cryptocurrency’s Ambassador Program, in which promoters are offering 1,000 free magacoins to approved radio hosts, media personalities, bloggers and grassroots groups who sign up to help promote the currency to their audience.
Magacoin has been connected in reporting by the Daily Dot with a North Carolina-based Trumpist political operative, Reilly O’Neal, who is the principal of a North Carolina LLC, Magacoin Inc, which was registered last April.
In a telephone conversation, Zelinka, the self-described creator of the cryptocurrency, said that “I don’t control it any more”, and that he had passed the cryptocurrency project entirely to O’Neal.
The Guardian has discovered more extensive connections between O’Neal and the cryptocurrency.
Last month, a Super Pac called Magacoin Victory Fund was registered with the Federal Election Commission. The Super Pac’s main mailing address is a post office box in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is also associated with several other O’Neal-controlled companies and political entities.
According to North Carolina state records, other companies headquartered at the PO box and solely controlled by O’Neal include Rightside Lists LLC and Mustard Seed Media LLC – part owner of Big League Politics.
In a telephone conversation, Zelinka, the self-described creator of the cryptocurrency, said that “I don’t control it any more”, and that he had passed the cryptocurrency project entirely to O’Neal.
The Guardian has discovered more extensive connections between O’Neal and the cryptocurrency.
Last month, a Super Pac called Magacoin Victory Fund was registered with the Federal Election Commission. The Super Pac’s main mailing address is a post office box in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is also associated with several other O’Neal-controlled companies and political entities.
According to North Carolina state records, other companies headquartered at the PO box and solely controlled by O’Neal include Rightside Lists LLC and Mustard Seed Media LLC – part owner of Big League Politics.