Crypto Groups on Russian Social Media Are Defaming Bitcoin by Bots
Crypto news outlets Bits.Media and RBC Crypto reported that crypto-themed groups on Russia’s state-controlled social network Vkontakte ( VK ) saw an increase in the number of comments defaming cryptocurrencies and related technology over the past week. This comment appears under or linked articles posted about crypto assets and they are all identical. For example: “Develling in crypto is more expensive and it’s always fraught with risk” And anyone who talks about bitcoin? Or “people don’t even understand it enough to discuss crypto.”
According to Nikita Zuborev, senior analyst at exchange aggregator Bestchange.ru, the boards first appeared on Vkontakte on February 13 on their forum’s community and official query, and accounts are known to be specialized for carrying out such attacks and only recently were they registered. Or inactive accounts have been stolen.
Bots are often used to spread spam and advertisements or to attract users for fraudulent schemes but this is not the case this time and the messages lack external links and their content suggests activities such as cryptocurrency and trading. limited to abstract criticism. The press service of Vkontakte told RBC that the company definitely “does not register an increase in the number of bots on the platform” and at the same time assures that moderators “promptly respond” to complaints about bots that appear in the same Post information extensively.
Zuborev also remarked that it is still difficult to establish today what exactly the bot was reacting to.Giving According to their comments, they are ignoring posts with images but are definitely triggered by words like “binance,” “bitcoin,” or “blockchain.” The attacks have intensified this week.
Sergei Mendeleev, CEO of defi banking platform Indefibank, has said that such a campaign against crypto means underestimating the effectiveness and other things that are difficult because most of the Russian-language crypto community uses this social platform “for obvious reasons”. Don’t do it. Mendeleev admits that any attack was ordered so that he can later refer to the number of negative comments on most social networks and the expert pointed out that no such attack has been observed in crypto channels on Telegram.
Vkontakte was founded in 2006 by Russian entrepreneur Pavel, who later launched the Telegram messenger, and in April 2014, Durov was removed as VK’s CEO after he suggested that the move would open up personal information to Russian law enforcement agencies. The manner was due to a refusal to hand over user details, including members of a group dedicated to protests at the Euromaidan demonstration in Ukraine, and was abandoned, and in September of the same year, Mail.ru Group became the sole owner of the company. . In December 2021, Gazprombank, a Russian state-owned bank, and insurance company Sogaz bought 57.3% of VK’s shares, becoming holders of its controlling interest. Vkontakte recently launched an NFT service.
