Share this article
Virgin's Richard Branson Warns on Bitcoin Scam Sites Using His Name
The British tycoon published a post Thursday warning the public to ignore bitcoin scams promoting themselves using his image.
By David Floyd
Updated Sep 13, 2021, 7:54 a.m. Published May 4, 2018, 4:10 p.m.
British business tycoon Richard Branson spoke out Thursday about the rash of bitcoin scam stories that have used his name to lure victims.
"I have written several times warning people about the growing problem of fake stories online linking me to get-rich-quick schemes, fake pages, misleading ads, false endorsements and fake binary trading schemes," Branson wrote in a blog post.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
"While I have often commented on the potential benefits of genuine bitcoin developments," he continued, "I absolutely do not endorse these fake bitcoin stories."
Branson is the founder of Virgin Group, whose portfolio of over 400 companies includes the airline Virgin Atlantic. He has promoted bitcoin and blockchain technology in the past, including through an annual private island summit of industry participants.
Branson singled out one scam – Bitcoin Trader – in particular. CoinDesk visited a site advertising the scheme, which poses as a CNN Tech article, complete with the outlet's logo and formatting – if not its copy-editing.
"560 Thousand British Quit Their Jobs After Richard Branson Invests Heavily In New Bitcoin Financial Tech." the headline reads, and the fake article is falsely attributed to a real CNN tech writer.
Branson is not the only publicly recognizable figure to warn consumers about scams being perpetrated in his name. Martin Lewis, a British personal finance writer, recently sued Facebook for its failure to take down ads using his image to push scams.
The problem extends to Twitter, where accounts posing as ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin and various cryptocurrency projects have reached epidemic proportions.
Adding to the growing criticism of social media companies for failing to tackle the problem, Branson wrote Thursday:
"We also contact the social networks where the fake stories are being spread and urge them to take the stories down and do more to proactively stop them appearing in the first place."
Richard Branson image via Shutterstock.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Asia Morning Briefing: BTC Steadies Around 90k With Liquidity Drained and a Fed Cut Fully Priced In
QCP notes participation has collapsed while Polymarket sees a shallow easing path, putting the focus on guidance and cross central bank signals.
What to know:
- Bitcoin remains around $90,000 as thin year-end liquidity leads to volatility and range-bound trading.
- Traders expect a shallow easing path from the Fed, with more focus on guidance than the anticipated rate cut.
- Global market movements are influenced by diverging central bank policies and macroeconomic signals.
Top Stories
