ICERAID: Report Immigrants, Get Paid In Crypto

In another unsurprising turn of events, MAGA supporters have reinvented the soviet-era Stasi on the blockchain, promising users cryptocurrency rewards in the form of Solana-based tokens for reporting immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the tagline "Make America Safe Again".

The project, called ICERAID, went viral last night as conservative activist Laura Loomer advertised the platform on her podcast.

ICERAid is "a GovFi protocol that delegates intelligence gathering tasks to citizens that would otherwise be undertaken by law enforcement agencies. ICERAID rewards citizens for capturing and uploading images of criminal illegal alien activity as well as 6 other categories of criminal activity to the ICERAID Explorer. The more images and locations you upload, the more ICERAID you earn," the website states.

"You take photos of suspicious activities on location containing potential suspects, they get validated with AI to prove the location, to profile the suspect, and gauge their sentiment – are they happy, sad, angry, etc – which raises the confidence that it can be pursued by law enforcement, and you get paid a bounty for doing that," ICERAID founder Jason Meyers explains the concept in a February X spaces.

"$8.3b a year for ICE to deport illegals, and all they did was open the floodgates," writes Nick Spanos, former co-founder of the Bitcoin Embassy in New York, who also appears to be backing the project. "Now crowdfunding crypto is the new government of the people by the people and for the people."

ICERAID lets you "ping the cops faster than you can say sanctuary city," says Florida Congressman turned political commentator Matt Gaetz in an apparent advertisement for the platform.

"It's like a citizen's arrest, but with WiFi. Snap a shot [...] and pick from the criminal offense buffet," Gaetz explains. "It's less a photo app, more a wanted poster generator. And the cherry on top, you can earn crypto for your sleuth work. Forget driving Uber or DoorDash for extra change, snap a pic, save the day, and stack some digital cash while doing it. It's like a 2025 superhero."

While ICERAID states on its webpage that the project is not affiliated with any official Government agency, Meyers previously alleged on X that he was in conversations with the White House about the project.

In February, ICERAID held a token presale, which, according to its website, "was a resounding success, with a total of 65,007,513 ICERAID tokens sold to our dedicated community of supporters," that "sets the foundation for a robust ecosystem."

But a look at X comments and ICERAID's Telegram group paint a different picture. "Still haven't received any 'ICERAID' into my crypto wallet and the presale has been over for days now," a user writes on X.

"There's no freedom in taking my hard earned money saying one thing and then doing something else," another user writes in ICERAID's Telegram group, asking for his money back. Apparently, ICERAID updated its terms after the presale, stating that users would only receive the equivalent of 24% of the money they deposited in ICERAID tokens.

"Refunds are not a possibility," ICERAID admin PiXiE, who describes herself as the projects' 'Secretary of Comms', responds. "Apologies were extended. Accept them or don't." In the Group, admins describe ICERAID as a memecoin, likely to evade SEC prosecution – the agency found in February that memecoins did not constitute the offer and sale of securities under federal securities laws.

ICERAID founder Meyers has previously faced a number of disciplinary actions for the sale of unregistered securities. In 1992, Meyers was subject to a consent order entailing supervision as well as civil penalties for selling unregistered securities. In 2014, Meyers was permanently banned from broker-dealer activities by the Financial Regulatory Authority for misappropriating "at least $700,000 of funds raised from 19 investors in a series of private offerings of securities," in which investors were never awarded a return of their principal or return on investments.

At the time of writing, ICERAID explorer holds a total of four reported images – two which aren't loading, one screenshot of a Daily Mail article about a "Donald Trump loving illegal immigrant," and a picture of Columbia District judge James Boasberg, who blocked Venezuelan deportation flights.

"Terrorists are safe in America until April 12," Meyers writes on X, addressing Boasberg's restraining order against Trump's enactment of the Alien Enemies Act – a law established in 1798 that allows the President to detain, deport, or restrict the movement of nationals from enemy countries.

In a tutorial posted on ICERAID's X page, the project shows how to "do your patriotic duty and earn a reward by reporting 'obstruction of justice'," showing the uploading of Boasberg's image to the platform.

Setting monetary incentives for citizens to spy and report on neighbors was a program widely credited for helping establish total governmental control throughout East Germany, allowing for the widespread prosecution of political opponents.

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