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ZachXBT

Robin

<p>Robin Guards, an NFT project, says it paid roughly 200 crypto influencers to promote its collection and sold only a few hundred NFTs as a result. The project argues the outcome shows that many paid promoters rely on bought followers and fake engagement. The claims have not been independently verified.</p>
<h2 id="what-robin-guards-says-happened">What Robin Guards Says Happened</h2>
<p>According to the project, the influencers had more than 10 million followers combined. Each of them posted about the Robin Guards collection, which was priced at $5 per NFT. Robin Guards says every one of the accounts scored at least 400 on Sorsa, a tool used to rate crypto accounts on X.</p>
<p>In an article published on 2 November, <a href="https://x.com/RobinGuards" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">@RobinGuards</a> shared screenshots that it says show influencers trading likes in group chats and a seller offering verified followers in bulk. The project says the dispute began after one influencer accused it of scamming, an accusation it denies.</p>
<p>Robin Guards also set out advice for other teams. It says projects should check a promoter's reach-to-view ratio, look at who replies under their posts, and ask for conversion results from past campaigns rather than screenshots of impressions. In its view, if the same 40 or so accounts appear under every post, that is a sign of recycled engagement. It describes the influencers it paid as having no real audience and no buyers. These are the project's own assessments, and the influencers have not been quoted here.</p>
<h2 id="what-the-sorsa-score-does-and-does-not-measure">What the Sorsa Score Does and Does Not Measure</h2>
<p>Sorsa, formerly known as TweetScout, is a crypto analytics tool built on public data from X. According to its <a href="https://app.sorsa.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">own FAQ</a>, the score reflects how many influential crypto people, projects and VC-related accounts follow an account, and how influential those followers are. Sorsa says the score counts who follows an account, not how many. It also says it excludes accounts showing follow-for-follow or mass-following patterns from its calculations.</p>
<p>That design matters for reading the project's argument. The score measures the quality of an account's follower network. It is not a direct test of whether engagement is real or whether a post will convert into sales. A score above 400 sits below Sorsa's 500 to 999 band, which <a href="https://sorsa.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sorsa describes</a> as accounts followed by a solid crypto circle. Sorsa also offers separate tools, including <a href="https://www.alchemy.com/dapps/sorsa" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">AI-powered bot detection</a>, alongside its influence scoring.</p>
<p>Robin Guards has not published sales data that outside parties can check. The figures on payments, reach and NFT sales should be treated as the project's own account until supporting data is made public.</p>
<h2 id="wider-concerns-over-paid-crypto-promotion">Wider Concerns Over Paid Crypto Promotion</h2>
<p>The episode follows earlier scrutiny of paid promotion in the sector. <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-influencer-bot-allegations-after-kol-award-win" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cointelegraph reported</a> that the investigator ZachXBT accused the influencer Professor Crypto of using bots to inflate follower and view counts, which the influencer had yet to publicly address at the time. Separately, <a href="https://www.blocmates.com/news-posts/the-state-of-crypto-kols-in-2025-awards-bots-and-the-business-of-attention" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Blocmates noted</a> that a leaked spreadsheet from ZachXBT showed more than 200 influencers took paid promotions, often without disclosure, with some charging up to $70,000 per post.</p>
<p>Those cases do not confirm Robin Guards' claims about its own campaign. They do show that how to judge influencer quality remains a live issue for NFT and token projects that pay for attention.</p>
<p><strong>Sources</strong></p>
<ul>
 <li><a href="https://app.sorsa.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Sorsa: FAQ on Sorsa Score methodology</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/crypto-influencer-bot-allegations-after-kol-award-win" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Cointelegraph: Crypto influencer hit with bot claims after award win</a></li>
 <li><a href="https://www.blocmates.com/news-posts/the-state-of-crypto-kols-in-2025-awards-bots-and-the-business-of-attention" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Blocmates: The State of Crypto KOLs in 2025</a></li>
</ul>

Robin Guards NFT Project Says It Paid 200 Crypto Influencers but Sold Only a Few Hundred NFTs

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