MrBeast Under Investigation for Connections to Over 50 Crypto Wallets Associated with Possible Insider Trading
James Donaldson, more widely recognized as MrBeast, has established himself as a prominent figure on YouTube. Initially celebrated for his philanthropic videos, he now seems to be embroiled in a wave of controversies in 2024.
The troubles for Donaldson began when his close associate, Ava Kris Tyson, faced allegations of misconduct involving a minor. Shortly thereafter, a former employee accused him of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme that could be characterized as an illegal lottery targeting children.
This troubling turn of events might serve as a pivotal moment in MrBeast’s career. An initial inquiry revealed that he may have reaped as much as $10 million through his support of low-cap IDO (initial DEX offering) cryptocurrency tokens, according to a post on X by online investigator SomaXBT.
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1/ An investigation into @MrBeast, detailing how he allegedly earned over $10 million by endorsing low-cap IDO crypto tokens promoted by influencers like Lark Davis, CryptoBanter, KSI, and others. Many of these projects have seen declines of over 90%, with some undergoing rebranding after major losses. Let’s dive in. ?
pic.twitter.com/NR9dq9ZnD2
— SomaXBT (@somaxbt) October 11, 2024
The approach was straightforward — a classic “pump and dump.” After featuring in promotional materials and generating excitement around the assets, Donaldson would sell off his investments, realizing considerable profits while leaving his followers to suffer as the market value plummeted.
Now, two weeks after SomaXBT’s initial findings, a more comprehensive report from loock.io, backed by on-chain data analysis, claims that Donaldson has profited over $23 million from these crypto pump and dump schemes since 2021. This analysis stems from a collaboration involving Kasper Vandeloock (@KasperLoock), @hxnterson, @angelfacepeanut, @rfparson, and the original investigator, @SomaXBT.
The incriminating report has identified more than 50 wallets linked to MrBeast. His principal crypto wallet address, 0x9e67D018488aD636B538e4158E9e7577F2ECac12, has been publicly acknowledged by Donaldson on several occasions — notably in 2021, when he confirmed his identity as the buyer in a transaction involving 50 Ethereum (ETH).
Through astute detective work, the investigation team uncovered that over 50 additional wallets share the same deposit address — 0xD6210f2dc5323f4a1B4b766a0e732d6DfA26935B. When multiple wallets direct funds to a single deposit address, it often indicates common ownership or affiliation. This shared address, coupled with frequent transfers among the identified wallets, suggests a coordinated effort.
Network graph illustrating the connections between the wallets mentioned in the report. Source: loock.io
MrBeast reportedly earned $11.5 million from a single token
While the approximately 5,000-word report is too extensive to summarize completely, one particularly striking aspect of the on-chain data involves MrBeast’s engagement with SuperVerse (SUPER), previously known as SuperFarm. Heavily promoted by figures like EllioTrades, the project aimed to create an NFT marketplace integrated into a gaming ecosystem.
Despite the project’s games being mired in ‘development hell,’ the pre-sale initial coin offering (ICO) led to a staggering 50x price surge — in part fueled by Donaldson’s enthusiastic endorsement of the token across social media channels.
X post from MrBeast referencing SUPER. Source: loock.io
However, early investors were reportedly refunded due to legal loopholes, as stated in the report. A leaked screenshot from one of EllioTrades’ streams captures a direct message on X wherein MrBeast mentions, ‘So we can do the $100k, thing is that I…’. Although this isn’t definitive proof, the data aligns with the leaked conversation.
After receiving 1 million SUPER tokens on February 22, 2021, Donaldson’s main wallet transferred the entire amount to a secondary wallet on March 30, 2021. The following day, he liquidated the entire holding — netting him approximately $7.5 million. Over the next three months, the main wallet received eight supply unlocks, all of which were sold off promptly. Once the initial $100k investment was deducted, the report estimates that Donaldson amassed approximately $11,447,453.96 in profits.
Readers are encouraged to delve into the findings themselves and form their own opinions — the report indicates that MrBeast also profited $4,649,337, $1,724,652, and $484,817 from transactions involving Eternity Chain (ERN), PolyChain Monsters (PMON), and SHOPX, respectively, alongside collaborative efforts with other popular influencers to gain from several of these pump and dump schemes.