Key takeaways
The sudden launch and disappearance of a Tyson Fury token on Zora exposed crypto’s social layer. As creators link and unlink verified accounts at will, platforms like Zora and Base are left scrambling to manage perception and user safety.
When Tyson Fury’s “verified” account suddenly appeared on Zora (an NFT marketplace) with a token attached, Crypto Twitter (CT) rushed in.
But just hours later, the account vanished, the tweet was deleted, and holders claimed their money had disappeared. What unfolded was a classic trust trap.
The incident laid bare how vulnerable crypto’s social layer still is, where reputation can be weaponized, and hype can override caution.
Tyson Fury token fallout
CT went into frenzy when a “verified” Tyson Fury account launched a token on Zora, amplified by a tweet from @js_horne.
Within hours, both the account and tweet vanished; and so did the token’s trade history from users’ wallets. Confused holders accused Zora of censorship and even assumed their money had disappeared.
In reality, the token was only removed from Zora’s frontend, a standard industry move meant to protect users, while trading remained possible via coin-to-coin swaps or Uniswap [UNI].
The real problem wasn’t the protocol, but how it was handled.
Source: X
Zora’s unclear communication and clunky UX around “moderated” tokens left new users blindsided. For a platform positioning itself as the go-to for creator onboarding, the optics couldn’t have been worse.
Sahil and social engineering rug
At the center of the Fury token mess was Sahil, a familiar figure in crypto circles with a track record of celebrity coin launches and quick exits.
His reputation alone casted doubt on the project, but the real trick was in the social layer.
The playbook was simple: create a token and Zora account, link it to a verified or high-follower X (formerly Twitter) profile, post a tweet to lend credibility, and watch users flood in.
Once the hype peaked, the account was deleted, causing the token to vanish from Zora’s frontend.
Financially, though, the rug pull fell flat. The token only reached a $400,000 market cap and $550,000 in trading volume, not exactly headline-grabbing numbers.
Base, trust and the real weak spot
The drama didn’t stop at Zora.
It spilled over to Base, where Jesse Pollak found himself trapped in a lose-lose scenario.
If he blocked Sahil, Base would look like it was censoring permissionless access. If he allowed it, critics could claim Base was backing a bad actor.
That’s classic social engineering: set up a situation where every choice looks bad, then let perception do the damage.
Pollak said,
“I told him he had a bad rap, bad actors aren’t tolerated on base, and he’d need to demonstrate positive impact. I was also willing to hear him out… we are trying to onboard the world. I will continue to be optimistic and open as we do that.”
But the deeper issue here is about trust.
‘Verified’ social accounts instantly boost the credibility of creator tokens. But when those accounts can be linked and unlinked at will, scammers can easily exploit the system.
Zora says it’s working on fixes, yet without stronger verification and on-chain transparency, these memory-hole rugs will keep happening.
