Philanthropist or Predator? The Crypto Business Insights of Global Top Influencer "Mr. Beast"

Author: Frank, PANews

MrBeast, a top internet celebrity in the global online world. With over 440 million YouTube subscribers, he has built a content channel centered around generosity, extreme challenges, and huge prizes. From recreating "Squid Game" to paying for cataract surgeries for thousands of blind people, MrBeast's public image is seen by countless fans as an embodiment of generosity and kindness.

However, beyond the glamorous video content, a parallel world is quietly operating—the high-risk, high-reward cryptocurrency space. Here, MrBeast's reputation presents a starkly different face. Investigative reports from on-chain detectives and the crypto community depict MrBeast as a shrewd investor, accused of leveraging his unparalleled influence to engage in a series of token operations suspected of "pump and dump," extracting tens of millions of dollars in profits from the fervor of his followers.

So, what is the truth? Is this global top influencer really exploiting the trust of his fans for wealth harvesting? How extensive is his crypto investment landscape, and what astonishing scale of profits has he achieved? PANews will delve deeper to attempt to unveil MrBeast's controversial other side in the crypto world.

The Investment Journey of a Top Influencer: Making Millions from NFTs

From the analysis of on-chain activities, MrBeast's wallet address can be traced back to June 2020, with initial operations mainly focused on staking some DeFi projects. Although DeFi staking has become a common practice in the crypto industry today, when we rewind the timeline to 2020, we find this operation to be quite pioneering.

This pioneering nature was further validated through operations with CryptoPunks. In October 2020, MrBeast's address began purchasing multiple CryptoPunks NFTs, with individual costs ranging from $1,400 to $4,850. This phase marked the eve of a crazy surge in CryptoPunks.

In February 2021, MrBeast publicly announced the purchase of eight CryptoPunks NFTs, and combined with previous buys, he acquired over a dozen CryptoPunks NFTs. Coupled with the simultaneous enthusiasm from many entertainment stars in the market, the floor price of CryptoPunks skyrocketed. By August, MrBeast began selling some of his NFTs, with the highest CryptoPunk #7200 selling for 120 ETH, equivalent to about $389,500 at the time, compared to the initial cost of $2,166, yielding him over $380,000 in profit, an increase of more than 178 times.

Of course, this is just a glimpse of MrBeast's operations in NFTs; the profits from just the initial four CryptoPunks alone exceeded $1 million. From on-chain traces, this address has conducted hundreds of operations solely in NFTs.

It can be said that the attempts in NFTs were MrBeast's initial foray into the crypto field, and one of the few crypto operations he is willing to publicly acknowledge. However, it was also this high-profile phase that left behind verifiable on-chain wallet address clues.

After obtaining his first pot of gold through NFT trading, this marked "main wallet" began to exhibit a complex operational pattern far beyond that of ordinary retail investors. On-chain data shows that funds and tokens did not simply remain in the main wallet but were systematically distributed to a vast network of over 50 secondary wallets.

This multi-wallet structure indicates that behind it is not merely MrBeast's impulsive personal trading but rather an organized and planned professional team conducting operations.

MrBeast's Profit Machine: The Wealth Code of Over $23 Million

If NFT investment was just the beginning of MrBeast's crypto journey, then the subsequent series of altcoin investments truly revealed how he transformed influence into astonishing profits.

Among all investments, SuperVerse is undoubtedly the most lucrative and controversial one. With an initial presale investment of only $100,000, this operation ultimately generated an estimated profit of $11.45 million, with a return rate of up to 100 times.

According to leaked chat records, MrBeast promised to invest $100,000 in the project's presale. In return, he received early private placement shares at an extremely low price of only $0.02 per token, which ordinary investors could not access.

After the token's public issuance, MrBeast began to leverage his massive social media influence for "promotion." On May 12, 2021, after the project founder tweeted about market opportunities, MrBeast replied with a single word: "super?" This seemingly casual interaction served as a strong bullish signal for his tens of millions of fans.

The most controversial scene unfolded. On-chain data shows that on the same day MrBeast posted the promotional tweet and within the following 72 hours, the wallet network associated with him began and was conducting large-scale sell-offs. In just three days after the tweet, approximately $200,000 worth of $SUPER tokens were sold. In the following months, as the token price soared over 50 times due to celebrity effects, the wallet network systematically liquidated almost all of its holdings through as many as 751 transactions, converting substantial unrealized gains into real profits.

Ultimately, when fervent retail investors bought in at high prices, the price of $SUPER tokens plummeted over 90%, leaving many fans who followed MrBeast's signals with significant losses.

MrBeast's success is not an isolated case but part of his systematic investment strategy. The same pattern has been replicated in several other projects. MrBeast or his team has connections to multiple projects, including Ethernity Chain and Polychain Monsters. According to Lookonchain statistics, at this stage, MrBeast's address profits may exceed $23 million. Compared to ordinary influencers crossing into the crypto space, MrBeast can be considered one of the most successful influencer players.

The Mystery of Wallet Ownership: Funds, Denials, and Evasions

With the exposure of massive profits, MrBeast's public image began to face unprecedented challenges. Once a charitable idol, he is now labeled as "harvesting fans" and "insider trading." Under immense public pressure, MrBeast and his team initiated a series of public relations operations aimed at distancing themselves from the situation, making the true ownership and operator identity of the wallets increasingly obscure.

In 2024, faced with growing community outcry and clear on-chain operational details, MrBeast had to confront the anger from the crypto world.

MrBeast did not deny the association of these wallets but instead attributed the improper operations to a crypto fund. He claimed, "These investments were made and managed in consultation with industry experts to ensure full compliance with all applicable rules and regulations. The wallet is not owned or managed by Jimmy but is led by a respected and experienced manager. The fund closely evaluates and reviews hundreds of opportunities, resulting in multiple investments."

In summary, these wallets are related to me, but I did not operate them. However, this ambiguous attitude of partial acknowledgment did not earn forgiveness from the community. Reports of MrBeast's involvement in scams and insider trading have been mentioned with each of his operations.

Until September 2025, when MrBeast's wallet address once again purchased the market-popular ASTER token, by October 1, MrBeast had spent $1.68 million to buy 950,000 ASTER. This move reignited community speculation about his impending "pump." But this time, MrBeast's response surprised everyone. In the face of community discussions, he publicly issued a statement, directly denying the investment, claiming he "had never heard of this coin" and that "that is not his wallet."

This direct and complete denial fundamentally conflicts with the previous claim of "managed by a fund." It also led the community to speculate anew: either MrBeast is lying, or the "fund management" is indeed operated by a third party, of which he is unaware.

Regardless of which scenario is true, it cannot be overlooked that these projects once leveraged or were even directly or indirectly promoted by him. As for the actual situation? Perhaps the "fund management" claim is more reliable.

After all, past traces have proven MrBeast's connection to this wallet address. However, for a billionaire entrepreneur worth over $1 billion, engaging in such complex on-chain operations and research may not be realistic.

MrBeast's case reflects another kind of helplessness in the crypto world. As the market capitalization of crypto assets continues to grow and move into the mainstream view, the crypto market is becoming a low-risk ATM for influential individuals and enterprises. More and more celebrities and influencers are attempting to monetize their influence through the crypto world, only to later distance themselves through a statement. This has become a common practice. Behind this, for the crypto market's natives, the most important takeaway in the absence of regulation may simply be: in the tide of influencers merging with capital, staying clear-headed and cautious is your only safeguard.