This is the first of a series called Nexo ANTI-FUD, where we will do a deep dive into some of the claims, however outrageous they may be, against Nexo and find any possible source or proof to confirm or deny the claims.

Shoutout to Twitter user Gene Vexo for doing the research on this topic. I simply expanded on their research.

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In 2020, a FUD campaign was initiated against Nexo, claiming that they shorted Chainlink for their own benefit, with the "proof" being a Typeform survey linked back to Nexo's email address.

These series of events started when Twitter user ChainLinkGod claimed there was a connection between Zeus Capital, who days prior called Link "crypto's Wirecard", and Nexo Finance on the Zeus Capital website.

Right to the details: the Typeform was retrieved and manipulated from public and genuine URL's and planted maliciously with the sole purpose of false flagging Nexo.
Nexo co-founder, Trenchev, back in 2020 stated that he recognised the string “ http://nexofinance.typeform.com” but the rest was manipulated and planted by the attackers. Trenchev, Nexo's co-director himself called it a 'false flag' with an official statement from Nexo saying:

“Nexo had nothing to do with this and its author is trying to insinuate such a connection through false flag stuff that Nexo is somehow involved. The most probable explanation is that we are Chainlink’s most recent partnership, we have staff who are well versed on the Chainlink subject, and because our OTC desks deals in LINK.”

What happened was, the bad actor could have copied any of these (or any other) genuine, functional and public Nexo TypeForms and manipulated them to slander the company.

An example of a functional, real typeform code: view-source: https://nexofinance.typeform.com/to/vsvudV

However, the one planted by the bad actor is NON-FUNCTIONAL: view-source: https://nexofinance.typeform.com/to/fPGAQ8rm

After checking with multiple HTML coders, they confirm that the infamous Typeform code is completely non-functional!

This indicates that the bad actors could never access Nexo's Typeform credentials. They were motivated by malicious purposes and manipulated the source code instead.

Why else would they include a non-functional TypeForm on their page that says “nexofinance”? Misinformation and false flag tactics are the answers.

This is also in line with Chainlink's public statement from 2020 confirming that those data were indeed “manipulated”, and that Chainlink “are aligned with Nexo in uncovering who is actually behind the misinformation campaign”:

Furthermore, more proof that Nexo did not create these fake Typeforms, is that when you open any genuine Nexo TypeForm you can see that they are always created in January 2018!

But the manipulated code, planted by the attackers, was somehow created in… OCTOBER 2020?! That’s obviously impossible, as we know it was retrieved in July 2020!

This is further evidence that this TypeForm was NEVER supposed to be functional, just manipulated for defamatory purposes!
Moreover, the SSL argument is meaningless, because those are issued to the TypeForm server, which we know stays the same anyway.

When I tried to entertain the “Link Marines”’ bizarre accusations even Nexo staff confirmed that the full-url of the malicious TypeForm was not theirs:

It was all just that. A MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN, that continued when the attackers modified their own page to make it look like they were also associated with other known names in crypto.

Obviously, none of those has anything to do with it, as declared! False flags:

Currently, Nexo is now only using the more secure Corporate Onboarding forms, which should successfully discourage these manipulations.

Finally, given all of the above, the most reasonable stance you can take is to base your conclusion on facts, not baseless conspiracies!

FACT: the two sides that were affected the most by this defamatory attempt were Nexo and Chainlink. And they agreed that the 2020 attack was aimed at hindering the increasing success of both teams, as well as funneling undeserved viewership to the anonymously run site.

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Summary: Bad actors used a temporary, pending deletion, non-functional TypeForm to smear Nexo's name trying to bring down both Nexo and Chainlink. Both Nexo and Chainlink themselves released statements against the accusations and to this day, there is no definitive proof of the claims that Nexo shorted Link.