Fake DJ Marshmello presents sham coin at Web Summit as activists’ campaign

At the Web Summit in Lisbon, a fake DJ appeared to advertise the launch of non-existing Adidas’ new Adicoin coin, but something went wrong.

What is Adicoin

According to a crypto.news editor Lena Bozhkova, a presentation of the new Adicoin with DJ Marshmello took place at the Web Summit in Lisboa.

Source: crypto.news

The idea behind the crypto was to “help workers in Adidas factories.” The presentation revealed the employees will have a chip that tracks their movements and the work process, thus mining Adicoins. The coins could only be spent in the virtual world of Adiverse, where workers can enjoy the good life online.

“Well, if money isn’t going to solve their problems, maybe there is a Bitcoin instrument that can. A crypto, AdiCoin. A crypto they can earn by working and spend in a virtual world.”

AdiCoin press conference

However, Adidas’ representatives never announced the launch of this token. In fact, it never existed.

Source: crypto.news

Fake DJ Marshmello

The influencer appears to be a fake DJ Marshmello. Someone hired an actor to try to act out a scam or joke with the new cryptocurrency.

The audience was deceived because the DJ did not reveal his face, keeping his appearance anonymous. However, the real Marshmello later stated that it was not him.

Whoever @websummit booked to perform and do interviews was not me. sorry to anyone who was misled by that imposter, my legal team has reached out #WebSummit

— marshmello (@marshmello) November 16, 2023

Later, the activist organization The Yes Men published a post apologizing for the incident. However, its representatives noted that they managed to draw attention to the poor workers at the factory.

Sincere thanks, @marshmello, and apologies for the confusion—but you have genuinely advanced the demands of thousands of garment workers owed severance and back pay by the company that makes the clothes you wear. @adidas #payyourworkers https://t.co/SGIpLMWxR3

— The Yes Men (@theyesmen) November 16, 2023

Web Summit controversy

This year, there was another scandal surrounding the Web Summit. The conference organizers fired the director general because of comments he made about the Israel-Hamas war.

Paddy Cosgrave, the Irish founder of Web Summit, criticized a social media post about Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip in response to the October 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas.

You might also like: Coinbase warns against Hamas’ use of crypto

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