**Los Angeles Protests Fuel Controversial Crypto Snitching Project’s Call for Mayor’s “Raid”**
As tensions flare in Los Angeles over recent immigration raids, a shadowy cryptocurrency-driven project known as ICERAID has escalated its rhetoric by targeting Mayor Karen Bass, labeling her a suspect in the ongoing unrest. The group, which operates independently of federal authorities, has urged its followers to upload images of Bass to its online tracker, offering 10,000 “RAID” tokens as a bounty for her supposed detention.
The controversy stems from Friday’s large-scale Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, which led to over 100 arrests and sparked immediate backlash. By Saturday, protests had erupted, marked by burned driverless cars, scattered looting, and a heavy-handed response—2,000 National Guard troops deployed at former President Donald Trump’s order. Amid the chaos, ICERAID’s social media account, @ICERaidNews, seized the moment, framing the demonstrations as an “invasion” and calling for vigilante-style raids.
The project, founded by crypto entrepreneur Jason Meyers, pitches itself as a crowdsourced immigration enforcement tool, rewarding users with cryptocurrency for submitting photos of suspected undocumented immigrants. Despite Meyers’ claims of White House connections, there’s no evidence ICE acknowledges the initiative—or that it has contributed to any actual arrests.
What ICERAID lacks in legitimacy, it makes up for in inflammatory rhetoric. Its posts depict the protests as a “war,” demanding federal crackdowns while promoting conspiracy theories, including the baseless notion that Trump’s public feud with Elon Musk was staged. (Trump has since declared their relationship “over.”) The group’s online tracker, once sparsely populated, has seen a surge in entries since the LA protests began, with two unverified claims tied to the city.
Mayor Bass, meanwhile, has urged calm, condemning both violence and the National Guard’s presence as a “chaotic escalation.” Her appeals for peaceful protest were met with hostility from ICERAID and its far-right supporters, including Enrique Tarrio, former leader of the Proud Boys, who endorsed the call for her detention.
The project’s credibility is further undermined by its own missteps—like mislabeling a Tesla safety demo as “domestic terrorism.” Yet, its blend of crypto incentives and anti-immigrant fervor has gained traction in right-wing circles, turning a fringe operation into a volatile player in an already explosive situation.
As Los Angeles grapples with the fallout, ICERAID’s campaign against Bass underscores a darker trend: the weaponization of cryptocurrency and digital vigilantism in America’s immigration debate. Whether it fizzles out or gains momentum may depend on how seriously authorities—and the public—take its provocations.
