Shilling is the process of riding on the back of a cryptocurrency, NFT project, or token with the intention of increasing its price or bringing in new buyers, often at the cost of being dishonest about one’s self-interest. A person who “shills” will typically present a project as if it were already a success, encourage others to buy it at once, or exaggerate its potential. The desired outcome is to stir up the interest and to get more people to put their money in.
Things get complicated with shilling when the promoter is covering up crucial information, like having a huge token stash or being paid by the project to promote it. In such instances, the advertising is not really done; it is just to create a demand so that the advertiser can sell the products at a high price and make a profit. This can create situations in which the novices buy at exorbitant prices, just for the promoter to sell his/her shares quietly, leaving the others with losses.
Shilling overcomes all the barriers of communication and can be done via social media, group chats, YouTube, forums, or face-to-face. The crypto community is always on the lookout for shilling as it usually indicates a form of market manipulation or pump-and-dump schemes.
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In short, shilling is a more refined form of dishonest hype. Someone might induce others to buy a non-fungible token, not because the asset is valuable, but just because they will profit from the hype and price increases.