Ship Coins - The First Ship Coin

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Im alex herned, the guardians uc technology editor, and my identity was stolen to hawk a doomed crypto currency from the guardian. You just don't want to be the last person holding the can or coin. To day, we're getting this strange world of ship coin scams, extremely risky gamboles And will even get a bit of identity theft. i am curious to understand how these particular coins ended up with this monica. I madeline ly, and this is science, weakly, alex.

When the Guardian’s UK technology editor Alex Hern was contacted on Twitter to ask if he was involved in a new cryptocurrency called Tsuka, he assumed they just wanted him to buy it. He ignored the messages. But soon after Alex realised that, without knowing it, he was already involved. What happened next reveals a lot about the strange world of ‘shitcoins’ – cryptocurrencies with no reason for existence beyond buying low and selling high. Madeleine Finlay speaks to Alex Hern about his shitcoin saga, and how the lines can get blurred between a gamble and a scam. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod