Cryptocurrency Influencer's Pump-and-Dump Scheme Triggers 97% Price Collapse in ALT, Uncovering $11M Gains

A cryptocurrency influencer accused of orchestrating a $11 million pump-and-dump scheme on the altcoin ALT has erased their online presence following an investigation by blockchain security researcher ZachXBT. The incident, which saw the token’s price plummet by 97% in a single hour, has drawn attention to coordinated efforts by traders to manipulate retail investors through social media campaigns and coordinated selling.

The investigation, detailed in a series of posts on X, traced the collapse of ALT to a network of 45 wallets linked to the influencer, known as Crypto Beast. Between May and July 2025, these wallets accumulated the token through exchanges including KuCoin, Binance, and HTX before liquidating their holdings for over $11 million—approximately 3% of ALT’s total supply. “Even dumping 0.5% of the supply is enough to crash the price,” ZachXBT wrote, emphasizing how the coordinated sell-off triggered a market wipeout. The token’s value dropped from $0.19 to $0.003, reducing its market capitalization from $190 million to $3 million in under an hour.

The scheme reportedly began on July 7, 2025, when a group of sniper wallets rapidly accumulated a majority of ALT’s available supply. Days later, following aggressive social media promotion by Crypto Beast, which included claims of a $500 million market cap potential and a top-100 coin ranking, the wallets began offloading their holdings. Screenshots of these promotional posts were later deleted, though blockchain traces revealed the influencer’s direct ties to the Celestia address used to fund the operation. ZachXBT identified a public wallet, Ledzo5cdS1RYfX4h391fYC8TF6xkwAC8U77F2pCaH4L, previously shared by Crypto Beast, as central to the network.

Crypto Beast’s account was deleted shortly after the investigation went public. The influencer had also deleted their promotional messages but was previously linked to similar suspicious campaigns for tokens like $ALPHA, $RICH, and $YE. ZachXBT noted that the tactics used in the ALT crash mirrored past operations: building hype through social media, inflating prices, and then abandoning followers. “Many old followers got rekt,” the investigator wrote, referencing the repeated pattern of exploitation.

Analysis of the event highlights the vulnerability of retail investors to coordinated manipulation in the crypto space. The use of instant exchanges and privacy-focused platforms allowed the perpetrators to obscure their activities until the final stages of the dump. While the total losses remain unclear, the $11 million liquidated by the 45 wallets represents a significant portion of the token’s value. The case also underscores the challenges of enforcing accountability in decentralized markets, where pseudonymous actors can exploit regulatory gaps to execute large-scale fraud.

The incident follows a broader trend of influencer-driven pump-and-dump schemes in the altcoin ecosystem. ZachXBT’s investigation, however, provides one of the most detailed public accounts of how such operations are structured, from initial accumulation to execution. For now, the deletion of Crypto Beast’s account and the erasure of promotional content suggest an attempt to evade scrutiny, but the blockchain’s transparent ledger ensures the transactions themselves remain traceable. As investigations into other tokens linked to the influencer continue, the case serves as a cautionary example of the risks inherent in relying on unverified social media endorsements for investment decisions.