I agree with you, its unthinkable, and extraordinarily retarded.
That being said, we have seen hundreds and hundreds of people in Steem/hive fall for similar scams, although with a phishing context.
The underlying issue being, I guess, an inherent conceptual weakness, in a part of the crypto-community that drives them to think that they can get something for nothing.
A speculative dogma that opens them to that idea that we can all get something for nothing if we just speculate right and fuck the morons that would buy our shit, like, say... Ned/Dan.
In short, the philosophy that the thing to do is to find the proper ponzi, get out in time and then find the next.
Regarding the ultimate hyperbolic goal, it would seem to me its twitter credibility, and not crypto itself.
And you might ask yourself, but why? think about it in this framework for a change:
https://twitter.com/hjarche/status/1283153261705547781
And yes, Im sure you see the irony of that last graphic being published in, of all places, Twitter.
Indeed, getting something for nothing and trust that it's legit. Ppl need to be less trusting. FOMO is all about getting in before someone else and out early before you get left holding the bag. That's the whole market, all markets. Just a big gambling game.