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WenserOdaily资深作者
@wenser2010
2026-08-27 14:34
This article is about 5047 words, reading the full article takes about 8 minutes
The tragedy always begins the same way: I handed my investment funds over to a brother who “knows the ropes.”
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- Core Takeaway: Outdoor streamer Di Shi has publicly revealed that he was defrauded of tens of millions of yuan by crypto figure Sun Zeyu, who built a fake Ethereum fork chain to carry out the scam. The incident exposes the “proxy investment scam” model in the crypto industry that thrives on trust between acquaintances, serving as a warning to investors to strengthen self-verification of assets and remain vigilant against risks.
- Key Elements:
- Scam Method: Sun Zeyu built a private fork chain containing only 7 addresses for Di Shi, with 6 of those addresses under his own control. The fake “ETH” tokens issued on this chain were used to masquerade as real assets, successfully executing a “bait-and-switch” scheme.
- Trust Building: Sun Zeyu leveraged his status as a “big shot” — including being the founder of Genesis Capital — and initially purchased mainstream coins on Di Shi’s behalf while also facilitating successful “withdrawals” amounting to millions of yuan. Over 8 years, he gradually earned Di Shi’s deep trust, laying the foundation for the large-scale fraud that followed.
- Victim Scope: Beyond Di Shi, Sun Zeyu’s proxy investment scam has affected multiple victims, including crypto practitioner Qing Tian and Web3 entrepreneur Lu Zi, with individual losses of approximately $300,000 and $1.5 million respectively. The confirmed number of victims stands at roughly 3 to 4 people.
- Industry Context: This incident is not an isolated case. The article points out that proxy investment scams, exit scams, and the PlusToken pyramid scheme are all common frauds in the crypto industry, which fundamentally exploit information asymmetry and trust relationships to trade worthless assets for investors’ real money.
- Prevention Advice: The article offers four major investment recommendations: refuse to let others hold assets on your behalf, learn to use block explorers to verify authenticity, self-study basic on-chain knowledge, and remain wary of recommendations from acquaintances as well as promises of high returns.
Original｜Odaily (@OdailyChina)
Author｜Wenser (@wenser 2010)
Recently, a scam involving tens of millions of RMB has sent shockwaves through the crypto industry.
Di Shi, a former top outdoor streamer who once earned tens of millions annually, revealed on a livestream that he had been set up by a crypto “bro” he had known for eight years, losing a total of tens of millions of RMB (Note from Odaily: some
This “crypto good brother” is none other than Sun Zeyu, founder of Genesis Capital, who entered the crypto industry as early as 2013 and is widely regarded as a “big shot.”
Beyond their respective identities and the amount involved, the scam method itself is what makes this story truly absurd. Di Shi stated that after an investigation by national-level white-hat experts, it was discovered that the “Ethereum” he had previously entrusted Sun Zeyu to purchase was not real ETH at all. Instead, it was token assets on a fork chain that Sun Zeyu had specifically built for him.
On this fake chain, there were only 7 addresses in total, 6 of which were controlled by Sun Zeyu; the remaining 1 was Di Shi’s wallet address. Does this sound familiar? It’s like a WeChat group where only one person is being scammed while everyone else is an actor—but in crypto form.
Throughout this long friendship, Sun Zeyu helped Di Shi “withdraw” several million RMB to verify the authenticity of his assets. It was precisely these successful withdrawals that made Di Shi fully trust Sun Zeyu’s every move. Later, Di Shi even introduced friends to purchase cryptocurrency from Sun Zeyu and acted as a guarantor in the deal, but it ultimately fell through for other reasons. Otherwise, he would have been on the hook for at least 10 million RMB of his friend’s money as well.
Di Shi admitted during the livestream that had he not discovered the fraud in time, as cryptocurrency prices continued to rise, the eventual losses could have reached hundreds of millions of RMB.
The Revolving Door of Fame and Fortune in the Attention Economy
Looking back at this “crypto scam” that spanned 8 years and involved tens of millions of RMB, the two parties involved are, on one side, an early-famous “king of outdoor streaming” who understood the mechanics of the attention economy and reaped substantial financial rewards early on; on the other side is a once-prominent “crypto tycoon” frequently featured in media reports, who entered the cryptocurrency industry back in 2013, founding KUSEN Wallet and Genesis Capital, enjoying considerable limelight.
In the vanity fair of the attention world, both were undoubtedly successful figures, but both were also consumed by their success: the former saw his career severely damaged by tax evasion and disappeared from public view; the latter ultimately fled to another country amid “token purchase scandals,” fraud allegations, and liquidation events.
The Ancient Internet Celebrity Di Shi: From “King of Outdoor Streaming” to Fined Over 10 Million RMB for Tax Evasion
Di Shi, whose real name is Sun Zixuan, was born in Beijing in 1984. During the golden era when the livestreaming industry was still in its lawless infancy, he was an undisputed top streamer. According to his own account, he once even claimed to have seen a dragon, earning him the nickname “the man who has seen a dragon” among netizens.
In 2016, Di Shi began his livestreaming career on Quanmin TV; in 2018, at the peak of the livestreaming boom, he switched to Penguin Esports and quickly became the platform’s “No. 1 outdoor streamer.” His bold and flamboyant streaming style covered outdoor adventures, food reviews, celebrity interviews, interspersed with insider scoops, rumors, and historical trivia. He once livestreamed dinner with Song Dandan and her son, attended the Huayi Brothers’ star-studded gala, and visited esports team bases, amassing millions of followers at his peak.
This level of fame lasted for three or four years until 2022, when Di Shi faced a major turning point in his life:
On June 9 of that year, the Second Inspection Bureau of the Beijing Municipal Tax Service of the State Taxation Administration announced that livestreamer Sun Zixuan (known online as Di Shi) was suspected of tax evasion. An investigation found that between 2019 and 2020, he had failed to file tax returns as required, underpaying individual income tax by 1.9786 million RMB, evading an additional 2.2012 million RMB in individual income tax by concealing livestream tipping income through intermediary companies, and underpaying other taxes and fees by 347,600 RMB. In total, back taxes, late fees, and fines amounted to 11.7145 million RMB.
This “tax evasion scandal” dealt a heavy blow to his livestreaming career, causing him to disappear from public view.
The “Crypto Tycoon” Sun Zeyu: The Double Life from “the Most Honest Post-90s” to a Habitual Crypto Fraudster
As a fellow post-90s generation figure alongside Sun Yuchen, Sun Zeyu entered the blockchain industry as early as 2013, making him one of the earliest cryptocurrency practitioners in China. In 2016, he co-founded KUSEN Wallet, a hardware wallet product focused on secure storage of crypto assets. In December 2017, he co-founded Genesis Capital with Zhu Huaiyang, focusing on venture capital and investment banking services for the blockchain industry.
In public information, Sun Zeyu was portrayed as a young and accomplished “crypto elite” and “crypto mogul,” actively appearing in media coverage under a string of glamorous titles including “Special Commentator for CCTV,” “Blockchain Advisory Committee Member at Peking University’s FinTech Innovation Lab,” and “Founding Partner of Genesis Capital.” In an interview with The Guardian, he boldly predicted that “within ten years, <a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/zcash-zec-price-rise-is-red-flag-for-<a href="https://xpertsstudio.com/bitcoin-hits-resistance-with-2-9b-in-longs-at-risk-below-68000/” title=”Bitcoin hits resistance with $2.9B in longs at risk below $68,000″>bitcoin-btc-cryptoquant-analyst-warns/” title=”Zcash (ZEC) Price Rise Is Red Flag for Bitcoin (BTC), CryptoQuant Analyst Warns”>Bitcoin will reach a price where one Bitcoin buys you a villa.” In 2018, Jiemian News described him as “the most honest post-90s in the crypto circle” and revealed that he had accumulated “nine-figure assets” within six years. After founding Genesis Capital, Sun Zeyu also invested in projects such as DeepBrain Chain (DBC), IOS, AELF, JEX, and Game.com, earning considerable prestige in the industry.
2018, the year the two met, was a period of “upward trajectory” for both men—Di Shi was at the pinnacle of the livestreaming industry with substantial income and immense influence, while Sun Zeyu was a red-hot crypto investor well-versed in crypto investments. One had money and wanted to invest; the other was willing to provide professional investment advice and operational management—and so a seemingly perfect cross-industry investment partnership began.
Anatomy of an Eight-Year Scam: How a Fake Chain Swallowed Tens of Millions
According to Di Shi’s own account, his acquaintance with Sun Zeyu began after he was defrauded of nearly 10 million RMB by another friend of Sun Zeyu. Sun Zeyu then proactively offered to help him “recover his losses” through quantitative trading, ultimately earning his trust by delivering a 4x return. Subsequently, Di Shi repeatedly purchased Bitcoin through Sun Zeyu without any issues, but concerned about exchange custody security, he eventually followed Sun’s advice and stored his assets in KUSEN Wallet—which inadvertently gave Sun Zeyu the opportunity to swap the assets.
The scam details Di Shi revealed during his livestream are a textbook case of the crypto industry’s “token purchase scam.” The entire scheme’s operational logic can be broken down into the following steps:
Step One: Building Trust with Small Test Transactions
Sun Zeyu leveraged his public identity as founder of Genesis Capital and co-founder of KUSEN Wallet, along with his titles as CCTV commentator and Peking University advisory committee member, to quickly establish the image of a “professional and trustworthy” investor. For an outsider like Di Shi, these credentials were the ultimate form of credit endorsement.
In the early stages, Sun Zeyu purchased mainstream cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum on Di Shi’s behalf, and everything seemed perfectly normal. Even when Di Shi needed cash, Sun Zeyu helped him “withdraw several million RMB”—these successful transactions further solidified Di Shi’s trust.
Step Two: Introducing a Fake Chain and Switching Assets
This was the most critical and most malicious step of the entire scam.
Instead of actually using Di Shi’s funds to purchase Ethereum, Sun Zeyu built a private fork chain, issued “tokens” on it that looked identical to Ethereum, which were in reality “counterfeit assets with an asterisk,” and delivered them to Di Shi.
Since Di Shi didn’t come from a technical background and had limited understanding of cryptocurrency, he couldn’t distinguish whether the “Ethereum” tokens in his wallet were genuine Ethereum mainnet assets or simply digital symbols on a private chain. For him, seeing a balance, receiving “tokens,” and even being able to withdraw large sums—that was enough.
The truth about this fake chain: it had only 7 addresses across the entire chain, 6 belonging to Sun Zeyu’s affiliated parties and 1 belonging to Di Shi. This meant that Di Shi’s “real money” never actually existed in the real market from the very beginning—it was merely a virtual number on a blockchain ledger meticulously arranged by Sun Zeyu.
Step Three: Expanding Investment and Increasing Exposure
Beyond purchasing cryptocurrencies on his behalf, Sun Zeyu also recommended additional investment opportunities to Di Shi, including a cryptocurrency exchange he operated in South Korea. Di Shi, trusting his “good brother” completely, kept adding to his investments.
Step Four: Maintaining the Illusion and Delaying Exposure
Sun Zeyu knew that to sustain the scam, he had to keep providing the victim with “positive feedback.” Fund withdrawals, occasional “profits,” market updates, and even holiday greetings and daily check-ins—all these made Di Shi feel that his crypto investments were steadily growing, with asset values climbing ever higher.
Eight years. Tens of millions in capital. All flowing into a carefully designed black hole. It wasn’t until 2026 that Di Shi, after hearing about a series of Sun Zeyu’s scams, conducted a professional investigation and uncovered the truth of the “fake chain, fake Ethereum, and fake coins.”
Di Shi Isn’t the Only Victim: Sun Zeyu’s Token Purchase Scams Continue to Claim Victims One After Another
Di Shi is not the only one harmed by Sun Zeyu’s “token purchase” schemes.
In February 2026, Wu Blockchain recorded a podcast episode (released in April) titled “Sun Zeyu’s Token Purchase Victims: How a Crypto Tycoon Became a Scammer?”. In the episode, two interviewees recounted their own financial disputes with Sun Zeyu.
The first victim is an early crypto industry practitioner named Qingtian (William Lu). In 2022, he participated in a primary token purchase of the TIA (Celestia) project through an intermediary, paying Sun Zeyu approximately $300,000. A written contract was signed by both parties, clearly specifying Sun Zeyu’s name, ID number, receiving address, and bearing his personal signature. However, after TIA officially launched, Qingtian never received the corresponding tokens, and Sun Zeyu went completely silent.
The second victim is Lu Zi, founder of BitRing and a Web3 entrepreneur. In early 2021, his team transferred approximately $1.5 million to Sun Zeyu (with a partner having already invested $500,000 earlier and then adding another $1 million) under the guise of “wealth management investment.” Sun Zeyu promised annual returns in the teens and verbally guaranteed principal protection. Shortly afterward, Sun Zeyu informed them that the funds had been “completely lost due to liquidation,” but never provided any trading records or evidence of the liquidation, nor returned any funds, before going silent.
According to the two victims’ calculations, there are currently about 3 to 4 confirmed victims on social media, with individual amounts ranging from hundreds of thousands to over a million dollars. There is also one crypto industry figure codenamed “94” who lost approximately $1 million. It cannot be ruled out that there are more victims who have not yet come forward.
What’s more concerning is that the victims have revealed Sun Zeyu is no longer within Chinese borders. There are rumors he is currently in Cambodia, allegedly controlled by forces in local compounds. Whether or not these rumors are true, one undeniable fact remains: cross-border pursuit and recovery in the cryptocurrency space is extremely difficult. The road to justice for victims is fraught with obstacles, and the real money they invested will most likely end up as nothing more than a bucket with holes.
The Full Landscape of Crypto Scams: Token Purchases Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The Di Shi incident is by no means an isolated case. In fact, “token purchase scams” are just one of many risks in the crypto industry. Typical cases and methods include, but are not limited to:
- The PlusToken Pyramid Scheme: In 2020, police in Yancheng, Jiangsu, cracked the massive PlusToken pyramid scheme, involving 310,000 Bitcoin and 9.17 million Ethereum, with a total asset value exceeding 40 billion RMB at the time.
- Token Purchase Exit Scams: From the ICO craze of 2017 to today, token purchase exit scams have been rampant. The purchaser disappears with pooled funds, project teams collude with purchasers to “farm” retail investors, and fake tokens are passed off as real ones—the tactics are endless and hard to defend against.
- Fake Wallets/Fake Exchanges: Phishing websites, malicious wallet apps, and fraudulent exchanges cause massive losses for countless users every year.
The common thread across these incidents is: scammers exploit information asymmetry and trust relationships to transfer funds and mainstream coins from both outsiders and insiders into their own pockets, trading their worthless air assets for other people’s genuine money.
What makes Di Shi’s case particularly striking is that it represents the extreme of the “trusted-acquaintance scam.” Moreover, the slow-boiling-frog nature of the scheme makes it far more insidious than a one-and-done exit scam, and far harder to guard against.
Four Crypto Investment Tips for Outsiders: Never Custody for Others, Learn to Verify, Master the Basics, and Beware of High Returns
1. Never Entrust Your Assets to Others for Custody
“Not your keys, not your coins.” This is the most fundamental rule in the crypto industry. No matter how prominent the other party’s status or how close your relationship, once you hand your funds over to someone else to buy, invest, or hold on your behalf, you lose control over your assets. Di Shi’s lesson is that he didn’t even know whether what he held was real—because the private keys weren’t in his hands, and the chain wasn’t within his understanding.
2. Learn to Verify the Authenticity of Your Assets
If you hold cryptocurrency, you must learn to verify whether your assets are on a real public chain. Ethereum has Etherscan, Bitcoin has Blockchain.com—enter your address and you can view all transaction records and asset balances. A “chain” with only 7 addresses simply cannot be found on any real public chain explorer.
3. Educate Yourself Before Investing
Cryptocurrency investing is a highly technical field. Blockchain principles, wallet security, smart contract risks, on-chain analysis—these aren’t things you can master by reading a few WeChat articles. If you’re an influencer or an outsider looking to allocate to crypto assets, you have two options: either hire a properly qualified, licensed team with custody solutions for compliant operations, or invest sufficient time in self-education, from fundamental principles to hands-on verification, thoroughly understanding every step. The most dangerous state is being “half-knowledgeable”—thinking you understand when you can’t even tell a fake chain from a real one, and one click on a phishing site from a search result is all it takes to be wiped out.
4. Beware of “Referrals from Acquaintances” and High-Yield Promises
Almost all investment scams begin with a “referral from an acquaintance.” A friend says there’s an internal allocation, a brother says there’s a
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