Overview

Enron Rebrand Hoax and Crypto Scam refers to a crypto rug pull orchestrated by an organization called the College Company, which supposedly bought the trademark rights to the name "Enron" for $275 in 2020. In December 2024, Connor Gaydos, co-creator of the Birds Aren't Real satirical movement launched the "rebranded" Enron, the energy company infamous for an accounting fraud scandal in 2001. The College Company subsequently created a number of social media accounts promoting the "new" Enron with the tagline, "We're Back. Can We Talk?" Connor Gaydos did a media circuit as Enron's CEO, getting hit with a pie in the face, getting interviewed by Taylor Lorenz and similarly satirizing the role of a CEO trying to rehabilitate the image of his company. The company announced the release of the "Enron Egg" in January 2025, claiming it to be a miniature nuclear reactor capable of powering a suburban home for 10 years. In early February 2025, the company released a meme coin and orchestrated a rug pull, holding 70% of the tokens.

History

On December 2nd, 2024, the College Company began posting under the username "Enron" on various social media sites, including X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, claiming to be revitalizing its role as an energy company and hinting at a revolutionary solution to the world's energy crisis. The Instagram^[1] post was captioned, "We're Back. Can We Talk?" gathering over 8,000 likes in two months. The X^[2] post gathered over 6 million views and 5,000 likes in the same time span.

The company also shared links to a fully fleshed-out website for the fake company, complete with an "Our Values", "Careers", and "Company Store" page.^[3]

In December 2024, several news outlets reported on Enron's seeming "relaunch," with The Washington Post^[4] noting that the College Company bought the Enron trademark for $275 in 2020, and that the new Enron website’s terms and conditions say it is "First Amendment protected parody" representing performance art and intended for entertainment. The article also noted the College Company's connection to the Birds Aren't Real co-creator Connor Gaydos. Also on December 2nd, Ars Technica^[5] reported that the company was hinting at a future crypto coin.

However, later reports indicate that the College Company did not actually buy the Enron IP, but actually registered a new application to use the Enron logo mark on "Shirts; Shirts and short-sleeved shirts; Polo shirts; T-shirts; and Tee shirts."^[6] According to a February 4th tweet^[7] by @SHL0MS, the $275 fee was merely a trademark registration fee, and the people behind the Enron reboot had also "filed to incorporate a new entity called "Enron Corporation" in Delaware, [and] bought the domain." This indicates that the people behind the Enron rehabilitation campaign did not own the original Enron company or its IP.

Developments

On December 12th, 2024, X^[8] account @pubity posted a video of Connor Gaydos getting hit with a pie in the face, gathering over 28,000 likes and 14 million views. A subsequent Community Note indicated that the video is publicity for a "crypto coin."

Enron’s new CEO was hit with a pie in NYC pic.twitter.com/gTYDjl9wlg

— Pubity (@pubity) December 12, 2024

On December 23rd, the Instagram^[9] page @Enron and Taylor Lorenz co-posted an interview with Connor Gaydos where he took on the role of a CEO trying to rehabilitate his energy company's image. The post gathered over 15,000 likes in a month.

Gaydos also appeared on the Instagram^[10] interview show Subway Takes on January 2nd, gathering over 50,000 likes in a month.

Enron Egg

On January 6th, 2025, the Enron social media accounts announced the release of the fake product, the "Enron Egg," marketing it as an at-home nuclear reactor with the capacity to power a suburban home for 10 years. Enron's Instagram^[11] account posted a video of a talk where Connor launched the fake product on January 6th, 2025, gathering over 100,000 likes in a month.

On January 22nd, Enron posted a promotional image for the "Egg" to Instagram^[13] gathering over 4,000 likes in a week. On January 31st, Enron posted a photo of Gaydos gifting Paris Hilton an Enron Egg, gathering over 2,000 likes on X^[12] in five days.

$Enron Crypto Scam

On February 4th, @Enron posted a video to X^[14] where Gaydos announces the launch of $Enron, a Solana coin he claims will be the "fuel that powers our journey." The post gathered over 3,000 likes and 2 million views.

$ENRON is here. This will be the fuel that powers our journey. Join us now on Solana. CA: BktHEAc2WS8TQi2vmavn1rA4L1WJuwF3Vkk3DnwwARti pic.twitter.com/3TvYDDgfeA

— Enron (@Enron) February 4, 2025

Crypto scam journalist and YouTube CoffeeZilla posted a series of screenshots warning investors against buying $Enron, noting how the coin was "locked" for 7 days (this was later changed to 6 months post-launch) and how most investors had only lost money after the launch.^[15]

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References