On April 1, Juicebox content director appears to have announced that the Ethereum-based crowdfunding platform had secured a $69 million fake funding round backed by cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm.
However, it was later revealed to be an April Fool's Day prank, causing JBX traders to suffer losses exceeding 20%.
April Fools' Day joke from JuiceBox
The news broke through a post on X by an account under the pseudonym Briliegh.eth, which has since gone private. The post claimed that JuiceBox had secured a funding round, expressing gratitude to backers and supporters for their role in the alleged achievement.
“Proud to announce our $69 million fundraising!” The post stated that. Although no investors are explicitly named, the accompanying image showing Paradigm strongly suggests their involvement in the financing.
Following the announcement, JuiceBox's native token JBX rose more than 40%, to $0.0043, according to CoinGecko data. However, the celebration did not last long, and after an hour, Briliegh.eth admitted that it was all just a joke. “Happy April Fools' Day to all of you!” The post shouted a warning to speculators against buying JBX tokens in anticipation of financial gains.
The new revelation caused the price of JBX to plummet, with the value of the token falling 25% to $0.0033.
The implications of the prank sparked a backlash from many X users. In response to screenshots of the initial ad shared on X by @spreekaway, one user said: “What was the joke supposed to be here?” While another shouted: “Jail.”
More April Fool's Cryptocurrency Pranks
In a similar incident, decentralized technology company Waves saw a brief 5% price increase after its pseudonymous founder “Sasha” announced a fake AI integration, but it returned to previous levels soon after. Some users criticized the joke, likening it to market manipulation.
On a lighter note, April Fools' Day saw David Hoffman, a prominent Ethereum proponent and co-host of Bankless, announce his mock departure from the Ethereum ecosystem to join Austin Videra and Yakovenko at the Solana Foundation.
Hoffman joked about taking on the role of “vice president of decentralization,” poking fun at common criticism that Solana is not as decentralized as Ethereum. Given his history of defending Ethereum, this announcement left many people amused rather than angry.
BitMEX Research also playfully suggested that the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF saw no outflows, making a mockery of the large outflows GBTC has seen in recent weeks. They later clarified in a follow-up post that the actual outflow was $303 million on April 1.
