Scammers are once again capitalizing on the popularity of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok, with fake tokens again emerging as part of potential phishing attacks.

A wallet linked to former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao received 90 million fake Grok (GROK) tokens on April 21, according to blockchain security firm PeckShield.

The tokens are “likely a scam,” since the “deployer distributed it to multiple addresses via multisend,” PeckShield said.

Source: PeckShieldAlert

The X platform’s Grok AI chatbot has no official cryptocurrency and no plans to launch one in the future.

Related: Bitcoin up 33% since 2024 halving as institutions disrupt cycle

Fake Grok-related tokens first emerged in 2023 when a scammer deployed an ERC-20 Grok token on Ethereum, which led to an over 90% drop after the deployer sold 0.5% of the total supply, according to blockchain data visualization platform, Bubblemaps.

Fake GROK ERFC-20 token crash, 2023. Source: Bubblemaps 

Scammers often capitalize on the credibility of social media platforms, large brands, or celebrities like Elon Musk to cultivate a sense of trust with victims.

Meta was the most mimicked brand in phishing reports filed throughout 2024, according to a report by email security provider Mailsuite.

US brands are often impersonated by scammers. Source: Mailsuite

Coinbase was the most impersonated brand by scammers in the crypto industry, but Meta was targeted by over 25 times as many scammers as the cryptocurrency exchange.

Related: Bitcoin rally above $100K may follow US Treasury buybacks — Arthur Hayes

Elon Musk-related scams and fake coins see a resurgence

Elon Musk-related scams and fake tokens are seeing a resurgence as scammers continue vying for investors’ crypto holdings.

A fake announcement claiming to be an official “AI Elon Musk stream” giving away $20,000 worth of cryptocurrency was flagged on April 14 by crypto recovery and security advocate, Denis Thomas.

Source: Denis Thomas 

Multiple other Elon Musk-related memecoins were launched on the BNB Smart Chain in recent weeks, according to a scam detector platform, Coinspeedrun.

Source: Coinspeedrun

Phishing scams like address poisoning involve tricking victims into sending assets to fraudulent wallet addresses.

Phishing scams cost the crypto industry over $1 billion across 296 incidents in 2024, making them a major threat, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.

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El Salvador, the first country in the world to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, is working with the computer chip giant Nvidia to implement artificial intelligence for national development.

El Salvador signed a letter of intent to collaborate with Nvidia on “sovereign AI to drive innovation and economic growth,” the National Bitcoin Office (ONBTC) of El Salvador announced on X on April 21.

As part of the collaboration, El Salvador will benefit from Nvidia’s AI tools, resources and expertise, enabling the development of sovereign AI capabilities targeting priorities related to culture, language, environment and economy.

“El Salvador will focus on building domestic AI infrastructure, upskilling the workforce, and creating solutions to address local challenges such as improving healthcare delivery, advancing education, and boosting economic productivity,” the announcement said.

AI training for state officials and developers

El Salvador’s latest collaboration with Nvidia marks the country’s commitment to encouraging AI usage to optimize multiple processes within the government and society.

With its new AI push, El Salvador intends to establish AI training programs for developers, researchers and government officials to “ensure the nation has the talent to sustain its AI ambitions.”

Source: The Bitcoin Office

One example includes the creation of AI-driven models to forecast weather and rainfall, which would support emergency response, protect residents in landslide-prone areas and optimize hydroelectric power management.

Not the first AI initiative for El Salvador

El Salvador’s Nvidia partnership adds to a growing list of AI-focused initiatives.

In March 2025, the ONBTC announced Salvador’s university-level public education AI program CUBO_ai, touting it as the “only national education program bringing in top-tier field experts.” The program was announced with support from major Bitcoin bull Cathie Wood, who is expected to give the first lecture as part of the program.

An excerpt from the CUBO_ai announcement by El Salvador. Source: The Bitcoin Office

Last year, Wood predicted that El Salvador’s Bitcoin (BTC) and AI plans may boost GDP tenfold by 2029.

Related: Only 11% of El Salvador’s registered Bitcoin firms operational

While El Salvador has been aggressively introducing AI initiatives, its Bitcoin ambitions have been somewhat deterred.

In early March, the International Monetary Fund moved to restrict further Bitcoin purchases by El Salvador as part of an extended $1.4 billion funding arrangement with the country. However, the government has continued stacking 1 Bitcoin a day, raising questions about the implications of the deal with the IMF.

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Despite Bitcoin (BTC) price reaching its highest level in over three weeks, traders on Bitfinex reduced their leveraged long (bullish) positions on margin contracts by more than $100 million between April 17 and April 19.

This reduction has led to speculation that Bitcoin whales may be anticipating a price correction or, at the very least, are not confident in further short-term gains. Let’s look closer at whether this could be the case.

Bitfinex Bitcoin whales remain bullish

Bitcoin surged above $86,000 on April 21 after US President Donald Trump openly discussed the possibility of replacing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Trump criticized Powell for not acting swiftly enough to ease monetary policy.

Additionally, investors are increasingly risk-off due to concerns about a recession as the global trade war escalates, particularly given the ongoing uncertainty in US-China relations.

The rationale behind this profit-taking in margin markets is especially noteworthy, as Bitcoin’s price has remained below $90,000 since early March, prompting some investors to question the likelihood of a sustainable decoupling from traditional markets.

The S&P 500 index futures are trading 1.1% below their closing price on April 17, and rising political tensions in the US are further eroding investor sentiment.

April 2025: BTC/USD (left, orange) vs. Bitfinex BTC margin longs. Source: TradingView / Cointelegraph

Bitcoin margin longs on Bitfinex stood flat at 80,400 BTC between April 10 and April 17, indicating strong confidence from bullish traders as this level neared a seven-month high. However, even as BTC price reclaimed the $83,000 level, these traders chose to reduce their leveraged bullish positions by 1,250 BTC, equivalent to $106 million.

Historically, Bitfinex traders are known for rapidly opening or closing substantial Bitcoin margin positions, indicating that whales and large arbitrage desks are typically behind these movements.

Nevertheless, it is not accurate to suggest that Bitfinex whales have shifted to a bearish stance, considering their margin longs currently total 79,136 BTC, valued at $6.86 billion, while margin shorts amount to just 326 BTC.

Related: Bitcoin whales absorb 300% of newly mined BTC supply — Is $100K next?

The significant difference between bullish and bearish positions can be attributed to the platform’s notably low 2% annual interest rate. In comparison, traders utilizing 2-month BTC futures currently pay a 5.7% annualized premium.

This disparity creates opportunities for arbitrage, as one can open Bitcoin longs on the margin market and simultaneously sell the equivalent position on BTC futures to capture the difference.

BTC doesn’t often move with Bitfinex leverage changes

Furthermore, Bitcoin’s price does not always correlate directly with changes in leveraged positions on Bitfinex. For instance, in the two weeks ending March 10, whales increased their margin longs by 13,454 BTC, yet Bitcoin’s price declined from $95,930 to $67,076 during the same period.

Similarly, margin longs decreased by 11,047 BTC in the two weeks ending Dec. 16, 2024, while Bitcoin’s price rose from $96,200 to $106,400.

Dec. 2024: BTC/USD (left, orange) vs. Bitfinex BTC margin longs. Source: TradingView / Cointelegraph

However, these sophisticated investors have demonstrated strong market timing over the longer term. For example, Bitcoin’s price eventually dropped below $58,000 on Dec. 23, 2024, after margin-long positions had already been reduced by 26% in the preceding 30 days.

This pattern suggests that these traders are generally highly profitable but also display a significantly higher risk tolerance and patience compared to the average investor.

Ultimately, a $106 million reduction in BTC margin longs is not sufficient evidence to claim that professional traders are turning bearish.

As Cointelegraph reported, onchain data suggests Bitcoin whales have grown in number throughout March and April despite the price slump, suggesting accumulation.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.