The ICO mania has reached fever pitch recently, being called out as a bubble by leading cryptocurrency figures and established economists alike. Now things have gotten so out of hand that even world famous fraudsters are chiming in to warn the public about it.

Jordan Belfort is the convicted fraudster whose many exploits were featured in the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”, based on his autobiography of the same name. In an interview with  the FT, he warned that ICOs are the biggest scam in the world right now. He compared the practice to “blind pools” and the “pump and dump” tactics used by boiler-rooms.

Join the iFX EXPO Asia and discover your gateway to the Asian Markets

“Promoters are perpetuating a massive scam of the highest order on everyone,” he said. “Probably 85 per cent of people out there don’t have bad intentions, but the problem is, if five or 10 per cent are trying to scam you, it’s a fucking disaster.”

“Everyone and their grandmother wants to jump in right now,” he said. “I’m not saying there’s something wrong with the idea of cryptocurrencies, or even tulip bulbs. It’s the people who will then get involved and bastardise the idea.”

“It is the biggest scam ever, such a huge gigantic scam that’s going to blow up in so many people’s faces. It’s far worse than anything I was ever doing,” Belfort said.