Yotta Bank Controversy
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Overview
Yotta Bank Controversy refers to problems faced by customers banking with fintech startup Yotta, a bank heavily promoted by YouTubers in the early 2020s, that garnered virality online in mid-2024. Following a dispute between two of Yotta's banking partners, over 85,000 customers with over $112 million in savings were unable to access their accounts starting in May 2024. YouTuber and crypto journalist Coffeezilla made a video covering the controversy in early June 2024, with many internet users criticizing influencers and content creators who promoted the bank before its downfall. Memes referencing the drama and issues customers were facing also appeared online at the time.
Background
Yotta Bank was cofounded by Adam Moelis in 2019, following a different model from typical banking interest payment methods. According to Yotta's website,[1] users receive free entries into daily sweepstakes instead of predetermined interest rates, with each $25 in your account getting you an additional ticket.
A total of six numbers then get drawn every night at 9 p.m. EST, winning you anywhere from a few cents to $1 million depending on how many numbers match your tickets.
In May 2024, Yotta cited a dispute between two of their banking partners as the reason for several thousand accounts being locked, the total savings in which amount to over $112 million. Synapse, a bank partnered with Yotta, declared bankruptcy earlier in 2024.[2]
Developments
In late May and early June 2024, discussions about Yotta on sites like Reddit and X / Twitter saw users complaining about various popular YouTubers who had promoted Yotta through brand deals on their videos. For example, YouTuber[3] Markeplier posted a video sponsored by Yotta on February 4th, 2021, advertising it with the tagline, "Save Money, Win Prizes! Try Yotta."
A June 3rd, 2024, post on the /r/Markeplier[4] subreddit saw the YouTuber's fans discussing the sponsorship on a post by Redditor /u/aSeriousAsker69420 that gathered over 1,000 upvotes in a day.
On May 28th, 2024, Coffeezilla made a post soliciting responses from /r/yotta[5] in preparation for a video on the bank's controversy. On June 3rd, Coffeezilla posted a YouTube[6] video about the Yotta controversy, gathering over 2 million plays on a video titled, "Youtuber Bank Wont Let You Withdraw Money" (seen below).
Other internet users discussed possible reasons behind Yotta's issues as well, with Redditor /u/2018_BCS_ORANGE_BOWL posting to /r/Buttcoin[7] and speculating that Yotta may have suffered losses by staking user savings in Terra coin, a cryptocurrency that crashed earlier in 2024.
![<8 185 Crypto-adjacent "bank" Yotta fails, user funds frozen (self.Buttcoin) submitted 20 hours ago by 2018_BCS_ORANGE_BOWL Yotta is a fintech firm with the following gimmick: instead of paying out a consistent interest rate to all their users, they use a sweepstake system to pay large amounts to a few users. The more money you have in the bank, the more tickets for their lottery you get. I first heard of them when their CEO did an AMA and stated that their user deposits were FDIC ensured, but that they could "decline" FDIC insurance for higher interest rates. It turns out by "decline FDIC insurance" they meant "use your money to stake stablecoins instead of keeping it in an FDIC account". The only stablecoin mentioned on their website in 2021 [1] was UST (Terra). Your money is stored in stablecoins like UST, which are cryptocurrencies pegged 1:1 with the US Dollar. We partner with trusted organizations like Terraform Labs (backed by Coinbase, currently managing over $300 million) to offer a much higher yield than a traditional bank. When Terra/Luna collapsed they quickly said "Haha we are actually all in USDC we never got around to using Terra". I'm wondering if they actually took a bath on Terra now. Anyways now they've frozen withdrawals for the last month, blaming their intermediary bank which recently declared bankruptcy. Users are starting to question if they were ever FDIC insured, coffeezilla video[2], the usual. It's like all the fun of crypto but with boring old fiat!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/831/361/41f.png "Yotta Bank Controversy")
Search Interest
External References
[1] Yotta – How To Make Money Online
[2] CNBC – Synapse Bankruptcy
[3] YouTube – Markeplier
[4]  Reddit – /r/Markeplier
[6] YouTube – Coffeezilla
[7] Reddit – /r/Buttcoin
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![<8 185 Crypto-adjacent "bank" Yotta fails, user funds frozen (self.Buttcoin) submitted 20 hours ago by 2018_BCS_ORANGE_BOWL Yotta is a fintech firm with the following gimmick: instead of paying out a consistent interest rate to all their users, they use a sweepstake system to pay large amounts to a few users. The more money you have in the bank, the more tickets for their lottery you get. I first heard of them when their CEO did an AMA and stated that their user deposits were FDIC ensured, but that they could "decline" FDIC insurance for higher interest rates. It turns out by "decline FDIC insurance" they meant "use your money to stake stablecoins instead of keeping it in an FDIC account". The only stablecoin mentioned on their website in 2021 [1] was UST (Terra). Your money is stored in stablecoins like UST, which are cryptocurrencies pegged 1:1 with the US Dollar. We partner with trusted organizations like Terraform Labs (backed by Coinbase, currently managing over $300 million) to offer a much higher yield than a traditional bank. When Terra/Luna collapsed they quickly said "Haha we are actually all in USDC we never got around to using Terra". I'm wondering if they actually took a bath on Terra now. Anyways now they've frozen withdrawals for the last month, blaming their intermediary bank which recently declared bankruptcy. Users are starting to question if they were ever FDIC insured, coffeezilla video[2], the usual. It's like all the fun of crypto but with boring old fiat!](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/list/002/831/361/41f.png "Yotta Bank Controversy")
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