In one of the strangest moments of my writing career, Carl “Moon” Runefert contacted me out of the blue, seeking an “update on old information” on a May 2022 article.The article talked about his relationship with the crypto payment platform Kasta, but a year later, Runefelt felt an urgent need to change the copy to emphasize that he was “not a co-founder of Kasta, just [an] investor. “
It was an unusual request for such a long time—especially given the extensive commentary he had made after reading a pre-published draft of the original article. At one point, he argued that the article’s mention of “haters” accusing him of editing YouTube video titles to make past predictions seem accurate was “clearly unprofessional.” He said it was similar to an article about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s rocket that included comments from flat-Earthers.
“I have to focus on what’s real and what’s right,” Lunefelt said.
Runefelt is a cryptocurrency influencer known for flaunting his lifestyle of private jets, supercars, and million-dollar watches while making funny faces in YouTube videos purporting to provide cryptocurrency insights and market analysis. Runefert, a high school dropout who worked as a cashier in Sweden a few years ago, preaches the “law of attraction,” which essentially says that you can warp reality if you just believe enough in your version of what you want.
Kasta (now known as Ka.app) is an encryption app that Runefelt is apparently trying to distance itself from. As it turns out, despite Lunefeldt’s perception of reality differently, he was indeed a co-founder.
First, let’s go back to the reality of Runefelt. He explained that the co-founder label was the result of confusion caused by online rumors. “People say a lot of different things — people say I’m a billionaire, etc. — and something takes off, and then everyone follows it,” he says angrily.
“Even though I never tell people my net worth, so do I as a co-founder [of Kasta] – I just want to clean up these things. “
“There were three co-founders, and you were never one of them, right?” I asked, referring to the three names listed on the company’s website — CEO Carl Roegind, Chief Technology Officer Sebastian Appelberg and Chief Product Officer Hans-Herko Lusmägi. “That’s right,” replied Carl Runefelt, explaining that it might have been a confusion with the identity of the CEO because of the similarity in his name.
After I told Runefert that the article “would not be edited after the fact, unless there was an error at the time,” Runefert made it clear that he believed a journalistic error had been made and needed to be corrected.
I asked Runefert to elaborate: “The theory is that I wrote ‘co-founder’ because maybe I read some third-person accounts — I don’t have any first-person accounts, and I made an assumption. So, I It’s wrong to do that, don’t you think so?”
“Well, yes, but don’t worry, don’t worry,” replied Runefert, with a hint of shy hesitation in his tone.
but without any errors.
Looking back at the interview transcript from my visit to his Dubai office in May 2022, Runefelt articulates how he co-founded Kasta.
“My best friend and I, we came up with this idea two years ago,” said Lunefelt, “[that crypto payments should be easy], which is why we founded Kasta. “We’re getting attention from Yahoo Finance and Fox Business Media,” he explained.
When I confronted Runefert, I pointed out that the “co-founder” description came not from internet rumours, but from his own statement. He admits, “I did help with some of the brainstorming, but I may have overstated my involvement at that stage… But co-founding it, that’s not accurate. I don’t have equity.”
“‘Early advisor’ and ‘early investor’ — and I would say that’s the most accurate thing I can say — and I can’t think of anything more true than that.”
“What you’re saying is that you’ve never really called yourself a co-founder, and you’ve never made people believe that, which is exactly what I’ve established,” I asked. “Exactly,” Lunefeldt replied.
Exactly?
He’s done it on Yahoo Finance and on Fox Business — exactly what the media references he mentioned in our May 2022 office sit-in. Runefelt appeared in a Yahoo Finance video clip on December 23, 2021, titled “Crypto App Kasta Aims to Lower Costs for Small Transactions,” opening with this opening statement after being introduced as a Kasta co-founder:
“Kasta is my company. I’m a co-founder.”
In the same video, he confirms, “We are, in fact, four co-founders.” This statement was corroborated by an article by Flaunt, which referred to Runefelt as “a joint venture with Carl Roegind, Hans Lusmagi, and Sebastian Appelberg.” Together” co-founder.
There are no cases of admitting mistakes, and no one-off cases. Four co-founders, not three.
Somebody check out Moon Carl bro haven’t scammed in a while now fucking crazy. pic.twitter.com/xjnDtnAxAN
— (@RomeoTrades) March 3, 2023
“We have Kasta co-founder and YouTube star Karl ‘Moon’ Runefert in our Fox Business exclusive,” Fox Business host Liz Klarman said on Runefelt three weeks later. Walter said in the introduction. The star has crowned himself yet again, and he’s now claiming it was just an internet rumour:
“As you said, that’s why I’m the co-founder and CMO of Kasta, we’re going to make cryptocurrency easier to use.”
I’m amazed by the reveal of this video. He tried to take it lightly, saying “it’s just confusion and marketing” because he was “not operational” within the company — despite his very operational role in the media. “I’m not actually a co-founder,” Lunefelt said. “No. They knew it and they agreed with it,” he said of the three “real” co-founders.
“But you said on Yahoo Finance and Fox Business that you were a co-founder?” I asked in disbelief, and Lunefeldt replied, “Exactly.” I guess I just changed the narrative. ”
He spoke matter-of-factly, without a hint of irony — as if Cointelegraph was his personal PR agency and the narrative was changed by the statement. Not “trying” to change it – Change it.
“Since I don’t own equity, I can’t say I’m a co-founder. That’s a mistake I made,” he said. “How can you be a co-founder if you don’t have equity?”
There doesn’t seem to be much evidence to support this view.
Runefelt has made clear in the past that he participated in the early brainstorming of the idea on which Kasta was based and co-founded it with a friend. We happily document this despite his attempts to visualize or transfer inconvenient truths to modes of thought.
Elias Ahonen is a Finnish-Canadian writer living in Dubai who has been running a small blockchain consulting firm around the world since buying his first bitcoin in 2013.his book Blockland Tell the industry story. He holds a master’s degree in international and comparative law, with a thesis on NFTs and metaverse regulation.
This article is for general informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be construed as legal or investment advice. The views, ideas and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
