ThreadGuy, Scambanks & the Rotten Machinery of Web3 Influence (LONG!)
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🚨 When Even the Official @Solana Account Backs Him 👇
One of the most shocking elements of the current crypto landscape is not just the behavior of shady influencers, but the fact that institutional actors actively legitimize them.
When the official @Solana account amplifies an influencer like ThreadGuy, it sends a chilling message: clout and exposure matter more than protecting communities. Transparency and accountability are sacrificed at the altar of virality.
This is not a trivial endorsement. It signals complicity at the highest levels of the ecosystem and it demands scrutiny.
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➡️ Who Is ThreadGuy?
The man behind the avatar is Michael Jerome, born in Virginia. His trajectory is a classic Web3 origin story:
He studied business but dropped out of college in 2021 during the height of the NFT mania.
He entered the scene under the handle @DiscoverxNFT, writing long-form threads analyzing NFTs and crypto trends.
In 2022, he rebranded to @notthreadguy, pivoting from threads to Twitter Spaces hosting.
His rise accelerated in December 2021, when he minted an XCOPY NFT on Nifty Gateway and swapped it for a Mutant Ape Yacht Club piece. That Ape became his permanent profile picture, a brand-defining symbol.
From there, his reach skyrocketed:
By late 2022, he was running daily Twitter Spaces, drawing massive audiences.
In 2023, his interview with Ben.eth pulled in over 17,000 listeners live.
He even brought Andrew Tate into Web3 debates via YouTube, sparking controversy and further boosting his visibility.
For many, he became the voice of Web3 debates, a charismatic figure bridging meme culture, NFTs, and crypto discourse.
But charisma does not equal integrity.
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➡️ The Scam Cabal: Banks, Frank, Orangie & The Vape Crew
ThreadGuy’s ascent cannot be separated from the circle he operated within, what critics call the Scam Cabal.
This group included:
@Banks (aka Scambanks)
@frankdegods (DeGods)
@orangie Orangie
Other LA-based influencers, sometimes referred to as the LA Vape Cabal.
Their reputations were forged not in building sustainable communities, but in orchestrating pump-and-dumps, insider plays, and liquidity extraction schemes.
Banks’ Infamous Record
Banks is arguably the most notorious of the group. His actions exemplify the predatory behavior at the heart of Web3 influence:
Pump-and-Dumps: During the 2024 memecoin mania, Banks and his associates ran coordinated pump cycles, cashing out while retail investors were left holding worthless tokens.
Illegal Gambling:
Banks operated an unlicensed CS:GO gambling platform, openly targeting teenagers. He bragged about making $200,000 per day, before the site was eventually shut down.
He promoted countless shady projects without ever disclosing his financial ties, effectively deceiving his audience for profit.
One infamous public statement encapsulates the ethos:
> “We’ve figured out how to deceive so much money out of the internet.” 😌
This is the circle that enabled ThreadGuy’s rise.
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➡️ Insider Allegations: The $LIBRA Scandal
In February 2025, ThreadGuy faced his most serious controversy yet.
On-chain investigators accused him of insider trading the $LIBRA memecoin, pocketing an alleged $510,000 profit.
He responded with a 10-minute denial video, dismissing the allegations as baseless.
But actions spoke louder than words: shortly after, he quietly removed his Mutant Ape PFP, a symbolic gesture interpreted as retreat.
The optics worsened when, during a livestream, ThreadGuy was caught muting his mic to take a phone call with Banks while discussions about Argentina Coin were raging in the chat. Viewers immediately labeled him “sus,” suggesting they were witnessing coordination in real time.
This incident underscored what many already suspected: the influencer economy in Web3 runs on backchannel deals, private coordination, and manufactured hype.
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➡️ The Machinery of Exploitation
The significance of these scandals goes far beyond one individual. They reveal a structural rot in the Web3 influencer economy.
Here’s how the system works:
1. Retail as Product
Audiences are not communities. They are liquidity. Followers are seen as exit liquidity for orchestrated trades.
2. Manufactured Hype
Organic memes take months to form communities. In contrast, these influencers manufacture coins and memes overnight, artificially generating engagement to create a dump cycle.
3. Social Engineering
Influencers present themselves as relatable, “one of us,” building parasocial bonds. Privately, they mock the very people funding their lifestyles.
4. Absence of Accountability
With no meaningful disclosure requirements, no enforced ethics, and no oversight, the cycle repeats endlessly.
Remember;
These people aren’t your friends. They aren’t cool. They are predators.
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➡️The Ecosystem’s Complicity
The response across crypto communities has been telling:
Ethereum maxis gloated: “We told you so.”
Solana maxis deflected blame, insisting this wasn’t their fault.
OGs laughed, recognizing the script from the ICO boom and countless rug pulls before it.
But the most damning aspect is institutional complicity.
The fact that @Solana’s official account promotes influencers like ThreadGuy shows that the problem isn’t just rogue actors. It’s systemic. The chain itself signals that hype and virality matter more than ethics, responsibility, or community safety.
This undermines trust not just in individuals, but in entire ecosystems.
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Crypto does not need more cult leaders or false prophets selling “alpha” while quietly extracting value.
It needs:
Real builders creating lasting products.
Communities that grow organically, not manufactured overnight.
Retail investors who demand accountability instead of chasing influencer signals.
Until figures like ThreadGuy, Scambanks, and their ilk are stripped of legitimacy, not amplified by official accounts, every bull run will be built on sand, not stone.
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I prefer a long tweet, even if it generates much less reach. Thanks for the like and retweet. Please try to separate hot air from real builders… hype comes and goes, but builders like $MASTR stay.
