Back in 2022, a project called BitcoinAsset X (BTA) started buzzing on social media. It claimed to be a partnership with CoinMarketCap, promising a free token airdrop to anyone who signed up. Thousands of people jumped in. Wallets were connected. Emails were submitted. Some even paid small gas fees to "claim" their share. But by early 2023, the website vanished. The Twitter account went silent. And no one ever received a single BTA token.
What Was BitcoinAsset X Supposed to Be?
BitcoinAsset X (BTA) wasn’t a real blockchain project. It didn’t have a whitepaper, no open-source code, no development team listed. Its only real presence was a landing page that looked like a fake CoinMarketCap page - same colors, same fonts, even copied the layout. The site claimed BTA was a "decentralized Bitcoin-backed asset" that would be distributed through CoinMarketCap’s airdrop system.
But CoinMarketCap doesn’t run token airdrops. Not like this. CoinMarketCap is a price tracker. It lists tokens. It doesn’t create them. It doesn’t distribute them. It doesn’t partner with random projects to hand out free coins. That’s not how it works. The platform has published clear warnings about this exact kind of scam for years.
How the Airdrop Scam Worked
The scam followed a simple, old playbook:
- Create a fake website that mimics a trusted brand - in this case, CoinMarketCap.
- Use buzzwords like "Bitcoin-backed," "exclusive airdrop," and "limited supply" to create urgency.
- Ask users to connect their wallets (MetaMask, Trust Wallet, etc.) to "claim" tokens.
- Once connected, the malicious site requests permission to access the wallet - often disguised as a "signature" or "verification" step.
- Once permission is granted, hackers drain the wallet. Sometimes they take all crypto. Other times, they steal NFTs or lock the wallet behind a fake transaction.
People didn’t lose just money. They lost trust. One Reddit user from Toronto said they lost $1,800 in ETH and a rare CryptoPunk NFT after clicking the BTA link. They thought they were getting free tokens. Instead, they got a zero balance and a broken wallet.
Why CoinMarketCap Had Nothing to Do With It
CoinMarketCap has hosted real airdrop announcements - but only for projects that are already live, verified, and transparent. For example, in December 2020, 1inch distributed 90 million tokens to over 55,000 wallet addresses that had traded on their platform before a set cutoff date. That airdrop had clear rules, a public blockchain record, and a team that answered questions publicly.
BitcoinAsset X had none of that. No public contract address. No blockchain explorer record. No team. No roadmap. No Twitter replies from real people. Just a static webpage and a Discord server full of bots.
CoinMarketCap even added a warning label on their site for projects flagged as scams. BTA never got listed - because it never met their basic criteria. The fake site was just using CoinMarketCap’s name to trick people into thinking it was legitimate.
What About BitcoinX (BCX)?
Some people confused BitcoinAsset X with BitcoinX (BCX), a completely different project with a supply of over 167 billion tokens and a price of $0.00027722 USD. But BCX has no connection to CoinMarketCap either. It’s a low-liquidity token with zero trading volume on major exchanges. Its only activity is on obscure decentralized exchanges, and it’s often used as a pump-and-dump target.
Neither BTA nor BCX is a real investment. Both are dead ends. Both were designed to collect wallets and drain them.
How to Spot a Fake Airdrop
If you’re ever asked to connect your wallet for a "free token," here’s how to check if it’s real:
- Check the official site - Does the project have a GitHub? A real team with LinkedIn profiles? A published audit from CertiK or PeckShield?
- Look on CoinMarketCap - If it’s not listed there, it’s not verified. If it’s listed but has "unverified" next to it, stay away.
- Search for the contract address - Paste the token contract into Etherscan or BscScan. If it shows zero transactions or no owner address, it’s fake.
- Never connect your wallet unless you’re 100% sure - Even if the site looks real, if it asks for wallet access, it’s a red flag.
- Ask on Reddit or Twitter - Search for "[project name] scam." If people are reporting losses, don’t click.
The Aftermath: Who Got Hurt?
There’s no official count, but blockchain analysts estimate at least 12,000 wallets were connected to the BTA scam site. Thousands lost funds. Some lost entire portfolios. A few even lost access to their wallets permanently because they signed malicious transactions.
Law enforcement didn’t act. The domain was registered anonymously. The people behind it used burner wallets and never cashed out - they just vanished. This is the reality of crypto scams: they’re fast, they’re anonymous, and they’re almost impossible to trace.
Today, the BTA website is gone. The Twitter account is locked. The Discord is empty. But if you search "BitcoinAsset X airdrop" on Google, you’ll still find old forum posts, YouTube videos, and blog articles promoting it - all of them outdated, all of them dangerous.
What You Should Do Now
If you ever connected your wallet to BitcoinAsset X:
- Immediately revoke all permissions from that site using a tool like revoke.cash (yes, this link is safe - it’s a well-known tool).
- Check your wallet history on Etherscan or BscScan for any suspicious transactions.
- If you lost funds, there’s no recovery. But you can protect your other wallets by creating a new one and moving all remaining assets there.
- Report the scam to the platform you used - MetaMask, Trust Wallet, or Coinbase - so they can warn others.
If you didn’t participate - good. You dodged a bullet. But don’t get lazy. Scams like this are still happening. New ones pop up every week. They just change the name: "BitcoinAsset 2.0," "CoinMarketCap Gold," "BTA Pro." The script is the same. The danger is real.
Final Warning
There is no such thing as a free crypto airdrop from CoinMarketCap. No project that asks you to connect your wallet to claim tokens is legitimate unless it’s a verified, audited, and transparent project with a public blockchain record. If it sounds too good to be true - it is. And if it’s tied to a name like CoinMarketCap, it’s almost certainly a trap.
The only way to stay safe is to assume every airdrop is fake until proven real. And the only way to prove it’s real is to dig deep - not click fast.
Was BitcoinAsset X (BTA) a real project?
No, BitcoinAsset X (BTA) was not a real project. It had no team, no code, no blockchain presence, and no partnership with CoinMarketCap. It was a scam site designed to steal crypto from users who connected their wallets.
Did CoinMarketCap ever run the BTA airdrop?
No, CoinMarketCap never ran, promoted, or partnered with BitcoinAsset X. CoinMarketCap only lists tokens and provides price data. It does not distribute tokens or host airdrops. Any site claiming otherwise is fake.
How do I know if an airdrop is real?
A real airdrop has a public blockchain contract, a verified team, a whitepaper, and is listed on CoinMarketCap or CoinGecko. It never asks you to connect your wallet to claim tokens. Instead, it uses on-chain activity - like past trades - to determine eligibility.
Can I get my money back if I lost it to BTA?
No, you cannot recover funds lost to the BTA scam. The operators used anonymous wallets and disappeared. Blockchain transactions are irreversible. The best you can do is protect your other wallets and report the scam to your wallet provider.
Is BitcoinX (BCX) the same as BitcoinAsset X?
No, BitcoinX (BCX) is a completely different token with no connection to BitcoinAsset X. BCX has a large supply but zero circulating supply and is traded only on low-volume exchanges. Neither project is legitimate, but they are unrelated.
7 Comments
MOHAN KUMAR
Bro this is why you never connect your wallet to some random site. I saw this back in 2022 and just laughed. No team, no code, no audit - just a copy-paste of CoinMarketCap’s UI. Classic scam. People still fall for it. Sad.
Abdulahi Oluwasegun Fagbayi
Scams like this thrive because people want something for nothing. The dream of free crypto blinds them to basic red flags. No one gives away tokens for connecting a wallet - that’s like handing your house keys to a stranger who says ‘here’s a free mansion.’
Anna Topping
i just feel so bad for the people who lost their nfts. like imagine spending months collecting something meaningful and then poof - gone because you clicked a link that looked legit. crypto broke my heart.
Jeffrey Dufoe
Yeah this is why I only use trusted platforms. If it’s not on CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap with a verified badge, I skip it. Simple as that.
katie gibson
OMG I can’t believe people still fall for this?? Like hello?? It’s 2024. We’ve had 1000 of these. The website looked like a 2017 template. I swear half the internet is just one click away from getting drained.
Ashok Sharma
Always verify before connecting. Check the official website. Look for audits. Read the whitepaper. If any of these are missing, walk away. This is basic crypto hygiene.
Tselane Sebatane
Let me tell you something - this isn’t just about losing money. It’s about losing faith. I met a guy in a crypto meetup who lost his entire portfolio to a scam like this. He hasn’t touched a wallet since. That’s the real cost. Not the dollars. The trust.
People think crypto is about getting rich. Nah. It’s about staying smart. And most aren’t ready for that.
I’ve seen the same script over and over. CoinMarketCap this. Binance that. Always the same fake logo. Always the same urgency. Always the same empty Discord.
And yet - new people show up every week. Fresh eyes. Fresh wallets. Fresh hope. And they get eaten alive.
We need better education. Not more warnings. Real teaching. In schools. In communities. In YouTube videos that don’t just scream ‘SCAM’ but show you how to spot the lies.
Because the next one won’t be called BitcoinAsset X. It’ll be something cooler. Something with AI. Something with ‘Web3’ in the name. And it’ll be just as fake.
Don’t be the next victim. Learn. Watch. Wait. Then act.