Prominent crypto trader and YouTuber Brian Jung has said that he has been turning down offers from crypto companies looking to partner with him since he was caught with his pants down when FTX crashed.
He admitted it was one of the “lowest moments” of his career.
“I turned down more than seven figures in sponsorship deals and things like KOL [key opinion leader] A partnership that many influencers do,” Jung tells Hall of Flames.
“We have learned our lesson since FTX and are very careful when working with any company,” he added.
Jung said no to crypto exchange Coinbase, which he considers a “different path” to FTX because it is a publicly traded company on the US stock market.
Cooking FTX-style books is difficult when you have to disclose a company's financials to the public.
Jung was embroiled in a multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit along with other celebrities and influencers who entered into endorsement deals before FTX's bankruptcy.
It's very nerve wracking for a guy who was only 25 years old. In the end, he did the entire FTX influencer gig for free.
“We really got along with them. So we are one of the few people to agree with them and that means we actually paid the money we got from FTX sponsor.
Although he has a relatively modest X of 61,400 users, most of his viewers tune into his YouTube channel for fresh crypto tips. It boasts 1.78 million subscribers there.
He's not sure how many he convinced to join FTX, and even though he settled with the plaintiffs, he thinks the biggest beneficiaries are lawyers.
“At the end of the day, the people who make money from this are the lawyers who represent the victims,” he said.
Although Jung was “dangerously close to losing everything” in FTX, he still managed to take care of his parents' mortgage and provide them with a monthly allowance.
It's a warning to any influencer because when FTX was at its peak, it looked like a pretty safe bet to pull back.
“It's really about how much more due diligence we can do,” he said.Back then, FTX had partnerships with everyone and everything from Tom Brady to the Super Bowl and Major League Baseball.
“At that time it looked like the Gold Ribbon Company, one of the largest banks or institutions in the world, right?” he said.
Table of Contents
ToggleHow did Brian Jung get X fame?
Jung tried his hand at various financial content before discovering crypto.
Five years ago, Jung started making videos about credit cards. He then moved on to cover stimulus checks during the Covid-19 pandemic before moving into crypto content.
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This led to a steady increase in his YouTube followers, some of whom followed Jung to other platforms, including X.
“What we're good at is YouTube, which is our bread and butter, which is high-value content, rather than trying to adapt and always innovate on YouTube,” he explains.
Like many crypto influencers, he occasionally hosts an impersonator, which he riled up online because crypto and impersonators don't mix well for anyone.
What kind of content do you like?
Jung likes X for real-time crypto updates but is slow to mention any favorite accounts.
“There's a lot of great alpha; that's where we've been able to connect with other CEOs,” he explains.
Jung has some strong insights to offer, and he's also a little bit funny, but it's not too hard to figure out when he does both on X .
Upon further investigation, Jung let us know that he enjoys the content of Jesse Pollack, lead developer of Cave and Coinbase's layer-2 scaling solution, Base.
“It really gives a strong energy. Just talking about the base roadmap and how they integrate into everything. And it really rang in the market at this point,” he explains.
“A lot of people are saying he's as ready as Ethereum Vitalik Buterin TV.”
Predictions?
Jung spends two-thirds of each week mining into crypto tokens, so Hall of Flames is eager to hear what alpha he's coming up with.
“Right now I'm spending an average of 14-16 hours a day researching coins[and]talking to founders with my team,” he explained.
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Jung is particularly bullish on Aerodrome Finance (AERO), an automated market maker (AMM) designed to be the central liquidity hub of the base. DEX has grown TVL over 380% to $580M in over two months.
Within a few months, he saw a 10x increase in profits on AERO, making his first million in “One Place”.
Although the fully-merged market cap has “already broken a billion dollars,” Jung predicts big things ahead.
“If we can compare Aerodrome to Uniswap, Aerodrome's conservative target is still around three to five dollars,” Jung said.
While people are often told to predict big things for their big wallets, Jung says $20 for AERO is possible if Bitcoin hits the $125,000 to $150,000 mark.
“I think it's a little bit crazy when people call hundred dollar aerodrome, but I see it here and there, but I'll give you the most realistic price target in the most favorable conditions,” he added.
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Ciaran Lyon
Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He is also a freelance comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.
