Astrologers are already saying it makes sense that Maren Altman was recently attacked online — as Mercury retrograde began at eight degrees Libra in early September.
The Washington Post I Getty Images
If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry. (That 8th degree is about “exposing the ugly truth,” according to the astrologer.)
Altman is an influencer who rose to online fame (in part) for creating content that combined astrology with cryptocurrency predictions. (Astrology tracks the movement of the planets in our solar system and purports that they reflect or indicate current events).
But now, she’s facing fire online for taking money from now-defunct, possibly fraudulent cryptocurrency company Celsius Network — and posting a “free” video interview with its former CEO, according to CoinDesk.
Altman told the outlet she cannot “overstate the viciousness and insanity of the threats… The equivalent of this would be like if I was paid by Peloton to talk about their bike and investors blamed me for the stock price going down.”
The documents came out via Celsius bankruptcy proceedings and, naturally, Twitter. One user pointed out that Altman had said she wasn’t “paid sh–” for an interview with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.
Why lie about being paid? This is from a YT interview she did with Alex Mashinsky in May. pic.twitter.com/HbeeGrq7Qg
— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 9, 2022
Someone else then pointed out that Celsius’s documents show she was paid $15,000 from the company in April and May.
Looks like @marenaltman was taking $15k/month from $CEL pic.twitter.com/ZQyXHq13LT
— BowTiedIguana (@BowTiedIguana) October 7, 2022
“The reality is Maren is an astrology grifter who advertised a Ponzi scheme to her followers in exchange for large sums of money. She continues to lead people into meat grinders at no risk to herself,” one Twitter user commented on the latter Tweet.
Altman pushed back on the criticism to CoinDesk.
She said in a blog the Mashinsky interview was a “favor.” Altman also told the outlet she had a separate contract to post about the company until it ended the deal unexpectedly in May (the company paused withdrawals in June) – and that she communicates when her social posts are paid.
“My error was trusting Celsius,” Altman told the outlet. As for the company’s finances, she said, she had, “Not a clue, no visibility on anything other than my marketing campaign.”
The crypto world and more traditional sources started noticing Altman’s predictions and online sway last year, with her prediction of a new moon-related dip and then a bull run in January 2021, for example.
“When to trade bitcoin? When Saturn crosses Mercury, of course,” Reuters wrote of her in January 2021.
Altman has dealt with online backlash before, however, with people within the Astrological community saying she stole content from creators of color. She did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur’s request for comment.
Whether or not Mercury retrograde’s degree can be cited for why certain people have turned against her online, Altman was pretty clear about what she thinks about this controversy.
“It’s like a witch hunt for someone they don’t even know,” she told CoinDesk.
Gabrielle Bienasz
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