This year’s Financial Times Weekend Festival in London was packed with world-class speakers, inspiring discussions, and innovative brands showing off their latest and greatest. But one booth stood out for its clever, tongue-in-cheek approach to a serious issue—fake credentials. Medallion Network took the festival-goers on a playful yet eye-opening journey, blending humor with hard truths about the growing problem of fake achievements.
Imagine walking past a booth offering free honorary degrees on the spot. No questions asked, no tests, no sweat—just your name and email, and voilà! You’re officially a graduate of the “School of Humanities, Arts, and Management” (S.H.A.M.), complete with a degree in “Excellence Without Effort.” It’s funny, it’s ridiculous, and it’s disturbingly easy to do. And that’s exactly the point.
Medallion Network wanted to put the spotlight on just how widespread and problematic fake credentials have become. In the UK alone, over 270 fake universities are in operation, making it hard to tell real achievements from inflated or entirely made-up ones. Globally, the number of unaccredited institutions and “diploma mills” is in the thousands.
So, what’s the takeaway? It’s easy to fake a credential—but it’s impossible to fake a Medallion.
This wasn’t just a fun gimmick. It was Medallion Network’s way of starting a conversation about how fake credentials undermine trust in industries everywhere. With the rise of fake universities and falsified CVs, it’s becoming harder and harder to know who’s genuinely qualified. Medallion Network is changing the game by making it easy to verify credentials that actually mean something.
By the end of the day, Medallion Network had managed to do something many booths at festivals struggle with—it got people laughing and thinking. The honorary degrees may have been fake, but the message was real: In a world where it’s easy to fake credentials, Medallion is making sure your achievements get the recognition they deserve.
For those who visited the booth, the experience was memorable—and maybe even a little bit sobering. After all, it’s one thing to laugh at a fake degree, but another to realize how often it happens in real life. Medallion’s solution? A platform where your achievements aren’t just paper—they’re proof.
As we walked away with our “degrees” in hand, it was clear: It’s easy to fake a credential, but impossible to fake a Medallion.
So, what’s next for Medallion Network? We're about to announce a very big partnership soon.