Lil Tay, whose “death” has now been confirmed by TMZ to be fake and an apparent hoax, saw her likeness being used by her former manager Harry Tsang to launch a crypto coin.
Tsang confirmed to Decrypt that he is behind the creation of a Lil Tay Token that was launched amid initial news of the internet personality’s death.
Built on the Ethereum blockchain, a Twitter/X account representing itself as the official account of the Lil Tay Token describes itself as a “hybrid” of memes and sniper bots.
The account also claims that the token has applied for a KYC check. In the crypto world a KYC or “know your customer” check is a mandatory due diligence process that verifies the identity of crypto service providers.
“We’re on a mission to help users of Web3 to grow with us,” the Lil Tay Token account wrote on Twitter/X.
Lil Tay Token claims legitimacy
Lil Tay Token claims that the project had been in development for four to five months. When news of Lil Tay’s death broke on August 9, the token’s supposed official Twitter/X account announced that the project would be temporarily suspended.
“If anybody is reaching out to you for money saying they’re involved with ‘Lil Tay Token’ it’s not true… if you see another token/coin with Lil Tay it’s a scam,” the account wrote.
The project also clarified that the response was due to the fact that Harry Tsang previously managed Lil Tay.
“We had no direct connection with the information released on Instagram. This was personal to him so we had to address it immediately,” the project said on Twitter/X.
In statements to Decrypt Tsang said the project had yet to finalise a launch date. This is because it was still “arranging for ‘crypto influencer’ partners” for the launch. He also stated that the saga surrounding Lil Tay’s supposed death changed his plans for the project.
“I could have launched this right now… but I absolutely had no intention to make it a pump and dump,” Tsang told Decrypt.
Publicity stunt?
Reactions on Twitter/X to Lil Tay Token have largely been negative. Users mainly criticised those involved for allegedly fabricating news about Lil Tay’s death to promote the token.
“Lil Tay shilling out a crypto scam is so her,” wrote one user. However, whether or not Lil Tay herself is involved in the crypto project is unclear.
“The adults behind this are absolutely vile,” wrote another.
At the time of writing the official page of the Lil Tay Token crypto project cannot be accessed, and appeared to be under maintenance.
