The co-founder of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) crypto project Zerebro has been accused of faking his death and dumping on investors after recent reports claim the developer pulled the stunt as an “exit liquidity strategy.”
The video, which was later shared on X, showed the project’s co-founder smoking a cigarette while taking his own life with a gun. Seemingly confirming his death, an obituary for Yu was published on the obituary platform Legacy, claiming he died at the age of 22.
On Sunday, Yu introduced the concept of “Legacoins,” a term derived from “legacy memecoin,” in a Mirror blog post. As he explained, these tokens don’t promise returns, as they are not investments, but are an “interactive performance art” where “the chart is the canvas / you are the art.”
The May 6 announcement unveiled Yu’s “final art piece,” the Solana-based LLJEFFY legacoin. The developer expressed his discontent with money, stating that the token was “my burning ritual / my hatred for money made manifest.”
DexScreener data shows that LLJEFFY’s price skyrocketed over 1,000% after the news spread. However, the cryptocurrency’s price quickly plummeted by over 90%, resulting in losses for many investors.
On-chain analytics firm Lookonchain reported that the news of Yu’s death “caused the price of $LLJEFFY to soar and plummet in a short period, causing some traders who FOMO bought to suffer losses,” adding that one trader lost $93,000 in one hour.
On Wednesday, Lookonchain shared that a wallet likely linked to Yu sold 35.55 million ZEREBRO for 8,572 SOL, worth around $1.27 million, on Tuesday night. The address then transferred 7,100 SOL, valued at $1.06 million, to the LLJEFFY developer wallet “G5sjgj.”
Soon after, the Legacy obituary was deleted, fueling the speculation that Yu’s passing was false. As Lookonchain noted, “The official Zerebro team has made no public statement, and it remains unconfirmed whether Jeffy Yu is actually dead or faked his death. Be cautious with the news and don’t FOMO trade.”
