Update 7/8/21: BankSocial published a series of Tweets on Thursday in response to people calling their crypto currency a pump and dump scheme.

"We're still here! Not a rug pull whatsoever," BankSocial said. "Team is still working hard and making huge developments. No hate against @Banks at all! We just want to make sure people know we're not dead."

FaZe Banks responded to that Tweet apologizing to Banksocial for "dragging them into all of this" and saying they "are legit." Bank social responded by thanking FaZe Banks and saying there were no hard feelings.

The interaction is a huge change in tune for the BankSocial, after the CEO of BankSocial publicly accused FaZe Banks of pumping and dumping in an article published by Mashable last week.

Original Article:

FaZe Banks came under fire on Wednesday after Twitter users unearthed screenshots of a May 27th, 2021 Tweet in which he promoted the BANKSOCIAL or Bsocial crypto coin to his followers. Many are drawing comparisons between his activity and the SaveTheKids crypto activity that put several FaZe Clan members in hot water last week.

Twitter users resurfaced the now-deleted Tweet after FaZe dismissed Kay and suspended Jarvis, Nikan, and Teeqo for their involvement in promoting the SaveTheKids coin, which some have called a pump-and-dump scheme. That coin, which claimed to contribute a portion of the trading fees to charity, crashed in value soon after the Faze Clan members who served as ambassadors for the crypto pushed it to their fans. 

"I don't know how this isn't 100% clear at this point, but I had zero involvement or knowledge of this SaveTheKids garbage and neither did FaZe Clan," Banks stated on Twitter on Tuesday evening. "The people involved acted as individuals and did all that shit on their own and have been removed as a result. Nobody's more upset about all of this than we are. We took action the moment this was brought to our attention."

While it may be true that FaZe Banks wasn't involved in the SaveTheKids fiasco that cost many FaZe fans a lot of money, many were quick to point out that FaZe Banks promoted the Bsocial crypto coin, which is also a speculative crypto coin that crashed in value after Banks promoted it as the next big crypto security.

In a now-deleted Tweet from May 27th, FaZe Banks promoted BANKSOCIAL.io, saying that it was "a project I f*uck with heavily and truly believe is the next one to pop." He also reportedly gave away $10,000 worth of the coin to a random winner who was selected from people who followed bsocial's Twitter account.

In response to the accusations, Banks denied selling any of his Bsocial and distinguished between a real crypto play like Bsocial and a pump-and-dump scheme like SaveTheKids.

"I've explained this already. That tweet was deleted because it was a giveaway. I've always deleted my giveaway tweets. I've never sold $1 worth of my Bsocial. I've never participated or even thought about being involved in pump and dump/ rug pull."

The exact relationship between Banks and Bsocial is unclear, given that he didn't mark it as an advertisement, but appeared to be part of some partnership since he was doing a giveaway. Following his promotion of Bsocial, it spiked in price, and then steadily declined in value.

While it is important to note that Bsocial is a more legitimate cryptocurrency play than SaveTheKids was, there were still people who questioned Banks decision to promote a crypto coin at all, even if he didn't sell his with the spike. Regardless of if he profited, he promoted a risky investment to his audience that ultimately didn't work out, all without disclosing his relationship to the company in the Tweet. 

Whether you think Banks did something wrong or not, the entire situation surrounding FaZe Clan and cryptocurrency has brought to light the dangers of investing in the unregulated world of cryptocurrency, as well as the dangers of buying a crypto-security based on what influencers are saying about it.

In recent months there has been a huge uptick in non-crypto/finance expert influencers promoting cryptocoins without clearly stating their relationship to the organizations behind said crypto coin. Even if they don't pump-and-dump their holdings, the sponsored promotion of security investments by non-experts is still concerning to many, given the high level of influence people like Banks can hold over their audience.