As “the blockchain boom” continues, it will become clear which companies provide meaningful solutions through the use of the blockchain, and which are made from wishful thinking.”
This tactic of pay-for-play without disclosure is an FTC violation. More troublingly though is that Shipchain, whose raised over $30M from investors from its ICO offering, published an article on Forbes that unwary investors may believe is an accurate Forbes article depicting a great company that is taking over a billion dollar business, when in reality Shipchain paid $1000 for the story.
On a call with one of our investigative reporters, Shipchain’s vendor, Adam Torkidson, described in details how the process of pay-for-play articles works with him:
“Everything I do operates exactly like a sponsored article where you get to write the content, decide the anchor text, decide whatever clients you want, but its not labeled as sponsored. It’s on a per article fee.”
When we asked Adam if he could get us published on sites like MSNBC or Forbes, he was quick to offer an example of a recent client he published for: