Title: Tiffany Fong
Nameless: No
Twitter followers: 51.7K
Recognized for: Breaking leaked information on Celsius and interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried after the FTX collapse
Who’s Tiffany Fong anyway?
Tiffany Fong is 28 years previous, has a background in advertising and marketing, and describes herself as a “reluctant crypto content material creator” who developed a following after $100,000 price of her crypto belongings have been locked up by bankrupt crypto lender Celsius.
She’s posted greater than 20 vital movies in regards to the firm since June 2022 and has been blocked by Celsius, founder Alex Mashinsky and his spouse, Krissy.
“I had no plans to be an influencer or citizen journalist or something. I simply personally misplaced a bunch of cash to Celsius Community, and I used to be simply mad and needed someplace to vent.”
“So, I began posting on YouTube and Twitter about it after Celsius went down, after which it form of snowballed into extra,” she provides. Fong says she received into crypto again in 2010 as certainly one of her kinfolk was mining Bitcoin. Scooping up a bunch of BTC and another belongings early on, Fong stated she hodled and remained on the periphery of the area till the Celsius catastrophe.
How did she get well-liked on Twitter?
Fong attributes many of the development of her Twitter following to her reporting on leaks from Celsius insiders and her interactions with FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) — to not point out some good old style shitposting.
“I began getting leaks from Celsius workers. [From that] I believe I gained just a little bit extra newsworthy consideration,” she says. “So, I believe that grew my viewers a bit larger. And that’s when Sam [Bankman-Fried] began following me.”
Her well-known follower would turn into an enormous alternative down the highway. Amid the chaos of the FTX chapter, Fong reached out to SBF on a number of events and managed to attain a collection of interviews and personal conversations with him, and even visited him twice lately throughout his home arrest in Palo Alto.
As such, she has drawn lots of consideration from the media, and even U.S. politicians.
One cellphone interview, specifically, was additionally featured in a collaborative YouTube video between Fong and Coffeezilla, which now has 1.8 million views. She copped criticism on-line from those that questioned her lack of finger-wagging at SBF, particularly given Coffeezilla’s extremely vital tone.
“I undoubtedly handled lots of pushback once I initially began posting about my conversations with SBF. Prefer to me, even when I don’t consider what the particular person is saying, I’m form of personally fascinated about listening to their claims,” she stated, including that:
“Even when I believe that they’re mendacity, to me, extra info is healthier as a result of they’ll find yourself hanging themselves with their very own phrases. Like I believe SBF has finished a number of occasions.”
What you’ll be able to count on on her Twitter?
When not posting scoops, she’s most probably shitposting. Generally actually.
There isn’t a higher instance of this than her Twitter posts regarding her go to to the White Home again in December.
Sharing a photograph of her standing subsequent to President Joe Biden by way of Twitter on Dec. 17, she captioned the picture: “I let @Potus [Biden] scent my hair.”
It’s a reference to a preferred meme about Biden apparently invading ladies’s private area by whiffing their hair.
Including context on how the hell she managed to attain an invitation to the White Home, Fong stated that certainly one of her followers labored for the key service and lined up an invite for her.
“I made him ship me a photograph of him holding his authorities ID with three fingers up prefer it was a complete factor. However, like, I’m not going to show down a go to to the White Home totally free — I’m not an essential particular person. And there’s no different manner I’m gonna be capable of go to the White Home,” she stated.
“Yeah, that become an enormous conspiracy idea on Twitter that I’m like a fed that’s like working with Biden or one thing like that. I’m not even political in any respect.”
Twitter beefs
Delicate beef: BitBoy Crypto
Crypto YouTuber Ben Armstrong traveled to the Bahamas in late November to confront SBF.
Realizing Fong had a direct line to SBF, Armstrong DMed her for a connection, however after she ignored him, he began flaming her. “He apparently claimed that I used to be jealous of him being within the Bahamas, and I used to be like, ‘Why would I be jealous in any respect that you just flew internationally to unsuccessfully try to interview SBF?’” she says.
Medium uncommon beef: the Day by day Mail and the New York Publish
Reporting on Fong’s interactions with SBF in December, the Day by day Mail and the New York Publish each used bikini pics, referred to as her a “attractive crypto influencer” and urged that Fong might be relationship SBF. She slammed them on Twitter for his or her slimy clickbait.
This led to a spat with the Day by day Mail journalist who wrote the article and the publication eradicating her bikini footage of their article thumbnails. The New York Publish didn’t observe swimsuit.
“It’s undoubtedly annoying,” she says, mentioning that she received admissions out of SBF about “donating to the Republican Occasion and admissions in regards to the Bahamian withdrawals.”
“However I really feel like all of that’s missed. After which they stunning a lot simply pulled like previous bikini photographs to make that the central focus of the truth that I spoke with SBF.”
Fine quality beef: Krissy Mashinsky
Alex Mashinsky’s spouse, Krissy, has taken purpose at Fong, claiming she is a part of SBF’s interior circle.
Fong’s header picture on her Twitter web page shows a tweet from Krissy Mashinsky claiming that she hacked into Celsius Zoom calls.
The 2 had quite a few spats on Twitter (earlier than the blocking), and Fong doesn’t mince her phrases: “She’s finished lots of stuff that’s insane. She posts movies of their multi-million-dollar penthouse in Manhattan after they’ve ruined the lives of 1000s of individuals. So, I believe she’s simply completely deranged.”
Twitter likes and dislikes
“It’s enjoyable having a neighborhood. And I suppose it’s good to some extent to have a voice that some individuals are fascinated about listening to,” she says in regards to the positives.
“What do I not like? I imply, issues can turn into inflammatory actually shortly and, clearly, taken out of context. And I don’t know — Twitter can turn into an echo chamber the place everybody simply needs to listen to the identical factor,” she stated.
Trying forward
Fong says she has no concept the place her social media fame will take her. “I by no means had a plan about any of this. I used to be simply posting, initially simply upset about Celsius,” she says.
“And it snowballed into this. So, I really feel like I’m simply taking it day-to-day and simply in no matter course the wind blows me. So, I don’t have a profession plan with this. And I didn’t plan on turning into an influencer or citizen journalist.”
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