The documentary, dubbed “The Crypto Millionaire,” chronicled the tale of Hanad Hassan, a Birmingham resident who claims to have generated a return of about 16,000,000 percent in one year by trading unnamed crypto assets.
The piece was supposed to air this week and investigate how Hassan began to give back to the community as a result of his newfound fortune. But it was cancelled after the Guardian revealed on Feb. 10 that it had highlighted problems about the BBC’s research:
“The Guardian questioned the BBC’s confidence in Hassan’s stated financial gains, as well as why the program’s advertising material failed to reveal that Hassan’s cryptocurrency Orfano was unexpectedly shut down in October, leaving many dissatisfied investors out of pocket.”
The BBC did not disclose the specifics behind Hassan’s “net worth” and how he produced the money between Q1 and Q4 2021, therefore it is unknown how he made the remaining $7 million of the estimated $8 million sum. According to Coinmarketcap, Hasan’s ORFANO token was issued on April 2, 2021, and any transactions using the asset were subject to a 6% tax. A portion of the tax earned by the token was allocated to a wallet address for charitable donations. The token’s pricing history is not available, although the BBC claimed that OFRANO contributed $200,000 to charity last year from its revenues.
According to posts from the r/Orfano community on the social media network Reddit, the project turned cold around September before closing down in October, implying that ORFANO only lasted about five or six months. Numerous individuals on the subreddit claimed that the project was fraudulent, which is a very regular assertion made by community members whenever initiatives fail.
