Fake DeepSeek Tokens Reach $60 Million In Market Cap

A fake meme coin advertising itself as DeepSeek gained a market cap of over $12 million today before crashing. Since the Chinese AI protocol took the US tech sector by storm, several scam assets have used its branding to reap huge profits.

The crypto community is facing an epidemic of major scams preying on total novices to the space. Meme coin launchpads are only making the issue worse.

Scam DeepSeek Meme Coins Take Off

The arrival of DeepSeek, the Chinese AI program that disrupted the whole crypto market, has led to a truly bizarre situation. Its widespread publicity sparked declines in Nvidia and in AI-related cryptoassets, so scammers began exploiting the hype.

A few fake DeepSeek tokens have appeared on Pump.fun, and they’re already trending on decentralized exchanges. Users are still investing in these tokens, even though DeepSeek previously clarified that it had no connection with any digital asset.

“DeepSeek has not issued any cryptocurrency. Currently, there is only one official account on the Twitter platform. We will not contact anyone through other accounts. Please stay vigilant and guard against potential scams,” the firm claimed earlier in January.

Seek, the first fake DeepSeek token, launched yesterday. It managed to accumulate a $48 million market cap before slumping. This first rug pull was so successful that scammers released another.

A Solana-based meme coin traded under the “DeepSeek” name and reached a market cap of over $12 million. Most disturbingly, the fake token is trending number one on GeckoTerminal, in terms of daily transactions.

Fake DeepSeek Token Market Cap Chart. Source: GeckoTerminal

Since Donald Trump launched his own meme coin, a flurry of brazen scams and ripoffs has covered the space. Scammers stole over $857 million using the TRUMP token, and impersonators have paraded as US government agencies or world leaders.

In this context, these fake DeepSeek tokens fit right into the milieu. A survey claimed that 40% of investors in TRUMP are first-time crypto holders. Billions of dollars are flowing into the crypto industry, and total newcomers are plunging in headfirst.

Many of them are paying the price for their lack of knowledge and awareness. Simply put, it’s easier than ever to make a fake meme coin, and DeepSeek is currently the most viral topic on social media. So, scammers are fully utilizing this hype.

It’s not easy to say how the crypto community will work through this mess. Industry heavyweights like Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin have warned against the scam-heavy culture, but there’s no easy solution to it.

For the time being, more scam DeepSeek tokens will likely enter the market until this viral hype fades down.

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