Ethereum 2.0 launched! But it is a scam - The Cryptonomist

The next update of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain to version 2.0, which will take place on January 3rd, will introduce several features such as PoS (Proof of Stake), however, there are already scams and fake posts on the net announcing the upgrade a month in advance, accompanied by photos of the co-founder Vitalik Buterin. 

In the post appeared on Medium, later removed, the interesting thing involves the necessity to stake at least 32 ETH, which at the current price are over $4,000. Basically, it is necessary to make a small investment in order to have an interest in return.

The criminals, have cleverly called their Medium page “Ethereum.“, with a point at the end to emulate the official page and mislead users. Very brazenly they ask the victims to send at least 32 ETH to an alleged official address of Serenity.

This is obviously a fraud as the new update is not yet available, and that address contains nothing at all. As if that weren’t enough, the post reads:

“When you are done, you will automatically begin staking and accruing interest. You can withdraw your stake at any time, but you will forfeit future gains if you do.”

It is actually impossible to withdraw the staked ETH at any time  since the post invites people to send 32 ETH to the specified address and not to stake them.

Unfortunately, the crypto industry is often the victim of scams, with the malicious operating to damage and steal funds from unsuspecting victims who believe they can profit easily, in this case from interest on crypto. Something very similar happened with Calibra.

As always, it is good to remember to check and always make sure that the page being viewed is legal and there are no strange or suspicious characters, to not send any crypto to anyone without good reason and to not share or disclose private keys with third parties. The saying “Don’t Trust, Verify!” always applies.