World, a week-old Solana (SOL) prediction market, staged a fake exit. On July 8, it said it was leaving Solana for Robinhood Chain, then admitted the whole thing was a crypto prank the following day.

The gag drew millions of views and briefly fooled parts of the crypto industry. It also divided opinion on whether staged deception is smart marketing or a costly gamble for a young platform.

How the Crypto Prank Spread

World went live on Solana on July 1 inside the Phantom wallet, with Chainlink (LINK) handling data and settlement. Solana’s official account had promoted the…