By Hazel Gandhi
A fake LinkedIn post predicting the growth of cryptocurrencies in the future and how investors should invest in cryptocurrency particularly Bitcoin is being falsely attributed to Uday Kotak, the founder of Kotak Mahindra Bank.
BOOM found that Kotak does not have a LinkedIn account and the post was made from an account impersonating him.
The post, purportedly shared by Kotak, equates cryptocurrencies to gold as an asset class. It also suggests investors should invest 2% to 3% of their personal wealth in cryptocurrencies and urged investors to invest in Bitcoin calling it "the future of finance".
A user on X (formerly Twitter) shared a screenshot of the LinkedIn post while tagging Uday Kotak's verified X account, asking him to confirm whether the account belonged to him.
"Came across this on LinkedIn: @udaykotak Could you kindly verify the authenticity of this post and confirm whether the linked LinkedIn account belongs to you?," the user tweeted.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive. Here is an archive of the original post on LinkedIn.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the post is fake and was made by a fake LinkedIn account impersonating Uday Kotak.
We looked at the account that made the post and found that the bio was outdated. A part of it read, 'CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank' and 'Chairman of IL&FS'. Uday Kotak stepped down from both positions in September 2023 and March 2022 respectively. We also noticed that the account had a mere 990 followers and 214 connections, which is unusual for a high-profile account such as Kotak's.
Click here for an archive.
We also looked up Kotak's other social media profiles and found that he had a verified X account. Here, we found that he had replied to the user who questioned the authenticity of the LinkedIn post and wrote, "This is a fake. I am not on LinkedIn."
As far as Uday Kotak's actual views on cryptocurrencies go, in January 2018, he spoke about how the only viable alternative currency according to him was gold. "...unless we reach a stage where we have an alternative currency that has same trust of people as that with gold, it will be very difficult for the authorities to allow any new cryptocurrency," he had told PTI.
In the same month, Bloomberg also reported that Kotak was setting up a family office to invest in various assets worldwide, except debt and cryptocurrencies.
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