Nearly 30% Feel SEC’s Fine of $1.26m on Kim Kardashian Was Fair

Popular reality TV star Kim Kardashian was recently fined $1.26 million by the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) for the promotion of a cryptocurrency EthereumMax, in reportedly a ‘pump and dump’ scheme. Pump-and-dump schemes are often misleading as they involve a cryptocurrency’s artificial inflation for a brief period before its expected crash.

Kim Kardashian’s involvement in EthereumMax’s pump and dump has caused a stir among crypto enthusiasts. For this reason, Real Research launched a survey on Kim Kardashian charged over cryptocurrency promotion. Here are the results of the survey.

Highlights:

• 35.04% have invested in EthereumMax
• 30.58% strongly agree that ‘pump and dump’ are effective in inflating the price of cryptocurrencies
• 29.8% feel it is ‘very fair’ that Kim Kardashian was fined 1.26 million USD

The Majority Have Invested in EthereumMax

The survey starts with a poll on whether respondents have invested in the cryptocurrency EthereumMax. 35.04% said yes, having invested in it, whereas 26.69% have heard about it, and 17.58% plan to invest in it. 20.7%, however, are not aware of EthereumMax.

The survey then proceeded to ask if respondents are aware of Kim Kardashian being fined 1.26 million USD. 43.87% are well aware of this, whereas 29.25% are aware but only for some details. 26.88% are not aware.

Pump and Dump Schemes, a Punishable Offense?

The alleged pump and dump are done to inflate the price of cryptocurrencies. Given the nature of the inflation, the survey asks if pump-and-dump schemes are effective in inflating the price of cryptocurrencies. 30.58% strongly agree, and 23% only agree. On the other hand, 12.85% disagree, and 12.59% strongly disagree.

Accordingly, the survey asks if the decision to fine Kim Kardashian 1.26 million USD was fair. To this, 29.8% say it was very fair, and 20.81% say it is fair. However, 13.2% say it is not fair, and 13% say it is not fair at all.

Next, the survey asks why pump and dump schemes need to be punished. 32.75% say it is a form of scam and misleading, and 17.86% say it is risky to use influential figures that have great impacts. A further 14.04% suggest that such financial advice can result in financial loss, whereas 11.81% suggest that the unregulated characteristic of cryptocurrencies means that the risks only rise.

Finally, 11.64% say that since the number of promotions by influential figures and crypto figures is increasing, pump-and-dump schemes need to be punished.

Read Also: Survey: Public Opinion on OpenSea Executive Arrested and Charged In First NFT Insider Trading Case

Then, the survey asks what steps need to be taken to ensure such scams and schemes do not take place. 27.93% suggest increasing punishment for misleading promotions, 18.51% suggest increasing awareness of scams in the crypto market, and 13.81% say ensuring reliability in investing platforms only.

Others suggest increasing knowledge about cryptocurrency and the market (10.54%), reporting scams and misleading schemes (9.65%), and the rest want to discourage crypto enthusiasts from following unreliable sources and advice.

Crypto Market Needs to be Regulated?

The survey then asks if respondents feel the crypto market needs to be regulated or not. In response, 43.88% feel it should, as risks are only rising. In contrast, 29.84% feel the crypto market should remain decentralized without a third party’s intervention.

Next, the survey reveals that 33.68% can easily spot a crypto scam or misleading content, and 26.14% can ‘sometimes’ spot them. 21.47% cannot spot such scams and content, and 18.71% cannot spot such content at all.

Lastly, the survey asks if celebrities and influential figures outside the crypto market should be allowed to promote crypto-related content. 59.83% say yes, they definitely should. However, 40.14% say no, not at all.