Malicious “DeepSeek” crypto tokens have surged over the past 24 hours as the Chinese AI company goes viral.
According to data from security firm BlockAid, at least 75 scam tokens were created as of Jan. 27, representing a threefold jump from the previous day. This mirrors the spike in fake tokens released after US President Donald Trump released his memecoin on Jan. 18.
DeepSeek launched the latest version of its AI app on Jan. 20, quickly going viral and rising to the top of the Apple app store. Along with it has come an unfortunate turn: a proliferation of scam tokens seeking to capitalize on the company’s success.
According to Oz Tamir, research analyst at BlockAid, scammers have already set up a decentralized application (DApp) that mimics the website of DeepSeek, with a “Connect Wallet” button that, when clicked, could potentially drain the crypto user’s wallet. Tamir noted that this DApp highlights the sophistication of these scams and the need for users to be vigilant.
In a pinned X post dated Jan. 10, DeepSeek wrote, “DeepSeek has not issued any cryptocurrency. Currently, there is only one official account on the Twitter platform. We will not contact anyone through other accounts. Please stay vigilant and guard against potential scams.”
Despite the warning, scammers have been hard at work and, in some cases, have had success. As Cointelegraph reported earlier on Jan. 27, two fake DeepSeek tokens initially gained traction. One reached a $48-million market capitalization before cooling off quickly, while another reached a $13-million market cap.
According to Tamir, scammers are becoming faster at exploiting trending narratives and creating scam tokens. The platform reported that the launch of Official Trump (TRUMP) and the First Lady’s memecoin, MELANIA, led to a surge in copycat tokens. Trump-branded tokens increased from 3,300 launched daily to 6,800 on the day of the official memecoin debut.
DeepSeek has dominated chatter on X after the power of its AI model — which could rival OpenAI’s ChatGPT — became apparent. The company claimed that developing its model cost under $6 million. The number is significantly less than the tens of billions American companies are spending to build their own models.
On Jan. 23, President Trump signed an executive order revoking past policies that “act as barriers to American AI innovation.” Trump administration AI and crypto czar David Sacks wrote on X that DeepSeek’s R1 shows that the “AI race will be very competitive.”
The fear has caused a sell-off in the financial markets, with the overall crypto market sliding 5.5% in the past 24 hours at this time of writing.
