In the last two years, there has been significant growth in the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies. However, it appears that knowledge of these digital assets has made its way to the Buckingham Palace as well. The head of one of the leading crypto exchanges Binance, Changpeng Zhao was reveling in the possible affinity of Queen Elizabeth with cryptocurrencies. Yesterday morning, Zhao had taken to Twitter to celebrate the news that copies of a blockchain journal had been requested by Queen Elizabeth II. The exchange boss has referred to an article in the Financial Times, which confirmed that a blockchain-related publication had been provided to the Queen.
According to the Financial Times’ article, a letter of gratitude had been sent by the Operations Coordinator of the Royal Household, Poppy Whitworth, to the British Blockchain Association for providing the journal. She had said that the Queen had enjoyed reading it. Zhao was quite excited over this news and wondered if the Queen owned any Bitcoin. Even though there hasn’t been any indication that the Queen, or any other member of the Royal Family, had shown any inclination towards digital currencies, it is still something to speculate about.
There haven’t been any public comments made by the Royal Family in support of, or for bashing, cryptocurrencies. But, this hasn’t stopped scammers from using their likeness and names for promoting fraudulent projects. Mirror reported earlier this year that a likeness of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex i.e. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, had been used by a Bitcoin trading scam for tricking unsuspecting investors. According to the news source, a fake BBC article had been promoted by the scammers that featured the royal couple promoting the trading scheme. The news piece was bogus and claimed that the couple had talked about a ‘wealth loophole’.
The scammers had claimed that they could help anyone become a millionaire in just a couple of months. The fake article said that the couple wanted to use the scheme to become independent because, as they were stepping back from their roles as senior members of the Royal Family. The article went on to praise the fraudulent project that was titled Bitcoin Evolution. It also led potential victims to the website of the scam platform, which boasts a countdown clock. The scam was trying to create FOMO and claimed that registration would soon be closed because of high demand.
The website declared that members would just have to work for 20 minutes in order to make $1300 daily. The scam has become quite notorious in the crypto industry, as it thrives on FOMO and a number of fake celebrity endorsements. Apart from the UK, Bitcoin Evolution has also built a base in Australia. A warning was issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), along with a number of others. The release said that these websites use fake celebrity endorsements that can be found on social media, such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
