Bitfarms clocked a first-quarter net loss of $36 million, widening from a $6 million loss in the same period a year earlier, as the Bitcoin miner pivots from mining to high-performance computing for artificial intelligence applications. 

The miner posted $67 million in sales for the quarter ended March 31, up 33% from the year prior. However, gross profit margin for Bitfarm’s mining operations declined to 43% from 63% year-over-year, the company said in its first quarter earnings release. 

The lower margins reflect pressure from Bitcoin’s (BTC) April 2024 “halving” as well as volatility in Bitcoin’s price. Halvings occur every four years and cut the number of BTC mined per block in half, reducing Bitcoin miners’ profitability. 

In the first quarter of 2025, Bitcoin’s spot price swung from more than $100,000 in January to less than $80,000 in March, according to data from Google Finance. The cryptocurrency trades at more than $103,000 per coin as of March 14. 

Bitfarms’ quarterly operating performance. Source: Bitfarms

Related: Bitcoin mining stocks down after Microsoft scraps data center plans

Bitfarms pivots to AI

Bitfarms has responded to the changing market conditions by investing in high-performance computing (HPC). It has also expanded its US presence as a hedge against looming trade wars.

“During the quarter, we executed across several key areas in our strategic pivot to the U.S. and HPC,” Bitfarms CEO Ben Gagnon said in a statement.

“The mining business now provides a stable, low-capex and free cash flow foundation for the Company that positions us very well to grow and develop our U.S. assets into HPC/AI data centers while still capitalizing on any potential Bitcoin upside in 2025 and 2026,” he added.

Miners are “diversifying into AI data-center hosting as a way to expand revenue and repurpose existing infrastructure for high-performance computing,” Coin Metrics said in a March report.

The computer hardware and electrical power supplies required for Bitcoin mining are also useful for applications requiring high-performance computing, including AI use cases.

In March, AI computing provider CoreWeave raised $1.5 billion in an initial public offering that valued the company at roughly $20 billion, reflecting strong demand among investors for companies servicing AI applications.

CoreWeave’s earnings for the past quarter are scheduled for May 14.

In April, Bitfarms secured a $300 million line of credit from investment bank Macquarie to finance the expansion of an HPC facility in Pennsylvania. 

In January, the company sold a Bitcoin mining facility in Paraguay to Hive Digital, another miner, for $85 million.

Magazine: Crypto wanted to overthrow banks, now it’s becoming them in stablecoin fight

Adrienne Harris, the head of the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), said New York has an “outsized role to play” in the crypto ecosystem, particularly in shaping regulatory frameworks for digital assets.

During a panel on May 14 at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, she said the NY estate is frequently asked to provide guidance on regulators. “With respect to federal regulation and legislation […] members of Congress are often coming to us [NYDFS] asking about our process, about our regulations, about guidance, how they should be thinking about legislation,” Harris said.

Interview with Adrienne Harris (pictured left). Source: Cointelegraph

According to Harris, the NYDFS was “unnecessarily tough” and lacked resources in the past. Now, under her purview, she said the NYDFS is “tough but fair,” noting that the digital currency oversight team has since doubled in size.

Harris took over as superintendent of the NYDFS in September 2021 after spending time working in the educational, nonprofit, and private sectors. In New York State, crypto businesses must either obtain a BitLicense or a limited-purpose trust charter.

“We’ve added nine pieces of regulatory guidance, so it’s still very tough to get a BitLicense or a limited-purpose trust charter,” Harris said. “But I think […] the proof is in the pudding when you see that FTX, Voyager, Celsius, didn’t pass our test and therefore couldn’t do business.”

All three of those crypto companies went bankrupt in 2022. The result was a widespread contagion in the industry and years-long legal proceedings. FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, and Celsius Network’s Alex Mashinsky were sentenced to 25 and 12 years in prison, respectively. Voyager’s founder, Steven Ehrlich, is facing legal charges for allegedly misleading customers.

Related: NYC Mayor doubles down on crypto push ahead of city summit

Harris “hopeful” for stablecoin legislation

Stablecoin legislation has been a topic at the forefront of many crypto industry advocates in 2025. Recently considered a bipartisan endeavor, it devolved into a dispute on May 8 when Democrats withdrew support for the GENIUS Act over concerns about President Trump’s crypto ventures.

Still, Harris remains “hopeful” Congress will eventually pass stablecoin legislation.

We’ve been working with Congress on all the variations of their crypto and stablecoin legislation now over the last three years almost.

According to Harris, all recent legislation tied to stablecoin regulation has been reviewed by New York officials.

“There isn’t a version of any of those bills, be it House or Senate, R’s or D’s, that don’t come to meet to the team to say, give us your feedback, give us your technical assistance, your insights here,” she said, adding that most of these suggestions have been incorporated into legislations.

The NYDFS, according to Harrus, still wants to be “a state path for crypto companies.”

Magazine: Bitcoin payments are being undermined by centralized stablecoins

Crypto founders headed to Washington, DC, to meet with lawmakers ahead of another expected vote on a stablecoin bill that initially failed in the Senate, according to Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong.

In a May 14 X post from the US Capitol rotunda, Armstrong said as many as “60 [crypto] founders” had gathered in DC to support the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, being considered in the Senate and a draft of the market structure bill moving through the House of Representatives.

The Coinbase CEO said the Senate could consider another vote on the GENIUS Act “hopefully tomorrow” after it failed to get enough support from Democrats on May 8.

“Like any good negotiation, there’s a lot of details to work out at the last minute, but we’ve been stressing the urgency of this,” said Armstrong.

Coinbase CEO in Washington, DC on May 14. Source: Brian Armstrong

Many Democratic lawmakers have said they will not support any crypto-related legislation without a specific carve-out for US President Donald Trump profiting from his digital asset ventures, such as his TRUMP memecoin and his family-backed company World Liberty Financial.

A Democratic staffer told Cointelegraph that there had been no indication that Republicans intended to address these concerns, while a person familiar with the matter said doing so would be unconstitutional.

The Senate resumed consideration of the motion to proceed to consideration of the GENIUS Act on May 12, suggesting another vote in a matter of days. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Related: What are the next steps for the US stablecoin bill?

Is bipartisan support for crypto possible under a Trump presidency?

Republicans currently hold a slim majority in the Senate and House and will likely require Democratic support for the stablecoin and market structure bills to pass. Before the 2024 election, some Democrats voted with Republicans for crypto legislation offering clarity on regulations.

Should the GENIUS bill’s sponsor and co-sponsors try to move forward with a vote without any changes, it’s unclear whether they would have enough support to clear a 60-vote majority and avoid a filibuster, which could delay or block the bill.

“Despite the politics around the TRUMP memecoin and crypto investments — that has definitely made our work more complicated — I still argue that behind the scenes, you’ve got constructive members in both sides of the Capitol and in both political parties working to find consensus,” said Representative French Hill at the Consensus conference in Toronto on May 14.

Magazine: Unstablecoins: Depegging, bank runs and other risks loom

VanEck has launched a new actively managed exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to invest in stocks and financial instruments offering exposure to the digital economy, the asset manager said on May 14.

The VanEck Onchain Economy ETF (NODE) is listed on the Cboe exchange and aims to provide investors with broad exposure to companies operating in the blockchain ecosystem, including crypto miners, exchanges, infrastructure providers, and crypto-oriented financial technology platforms, VanEck said in a press release. 

The NODE ETF will also “consider any company that has clearly communicated plans to engage in this space, as evidenced through public filings, earnings calls or investor materials,” VanEck said.

Additionally, the fund, which will be actively managed, may also invest in crypto-related financial instruments but will not hold any cryptocurrencies directly, according to the press release. 

“As new companies enter the universe through IPOs, spinouts or strategy shifts, we will continuously update our investable universe,” Matthew Sigel, VanEck’s head of digital asset research and the NODE ETF’s portfolio manager, said in a statement. 

“We will also adjust beta and volatility to maintain responsible exposure to bitcoin and to businesses driving the growth of the onchain economy, avoiding over-allocation to high-beta names during frothy markets and preserving buying power for future opportunities,” he said. 

Beta refers to a financial asset’s exposure to market volatility.

Top holdings of VanEck’s NODE ETF. Source: VanEck

Related: Strategy will beat all public equities with Bitcoin, analyst says

Other ETF filings

In April, VanEck launched another ETF tracking crypto companies. The VanEck Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP) invests in a passive index of companies operating in the digital asset space. 

The DAPP ETF has $185 million in net assets as of May 14, according to its website. 

Asset managers such as VanEck are requesting the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) permission to list upward of 70 crypto ETFs. 

The flurry of ETF filings is in response to US President Donald Trump softening the SEC’s regulatory posture toward crypto after taking office in January.

On May 5, VanEck asked the SEC for a green light to list an ETF holding the BNB Chain’s native token.

Magazine: Bitcoin to $1M ‘by 2029,’ CIA tips its hat to Bitcoin: Hodler’s Digest, April 27 – May 3

Key points:

Bitcoin remains above $100,000, but buyers are struggling to sustain prices above $105,000.

Strong altcoin performances suggest an altseason has started.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading above $103,000, with buyers attempting to drive the price to the all-time high of $109,588. Research firm Santiment said in a post on X that Bitcoin whales and sharks, holding 10 to 10,000 Bitcoin, accumulated 83,105 Bitcoin in the past 30 days, suggesting that “it may be a matter of time” before Bitcoin’s all-time high is taken out.

Along with Bitcoin, analysts are also gradually turning positive on altcoins. A host of factors, such as falling Bitcoin and USDT dominance and a rally in select altcoins, suggest that an altcoin season may be around the corner.

Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360

However, not everyone is bullish in the short term. Alphractal CEO Joao Wedson said in a post on X that Bitcoin is at the “Alpha Price” zone, which could attract profit booking by long-term holders or whales.  

Could Bitcoin challenge the all-time high? Will altcoins continue their rally even if Bitcoin consolidates? Let’s analyze the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price prediction

Bitcoin rebounded off $100,718 on May 12, indicating that the bulls are trying to flip the psychologically important $100,000 level into support.

BTC/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

If the price maintains above $100,000, the possibility of a retest of the all-time high increases. There is stiff resistance in the $107,000 to $109,588 zone, but if it is crossed, the BTC/USDT pair could skyrocket to $130,000.

The risk to the upside is a sharp pullback below the 20-day exponential moving average ($98,407), which could tempt several short-term buyers to book profits. That could sink the pair to the 50-day simple moving average ($89,952). 

Ether price prediction

Ether (ETH) skyrocketed above the $2,550 resistance on May 13, but the higher levels are attracting sellers.

ETH/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The overbought level on the RSI signals a possible correction or consolidation in the near term. If the price slips below $2,550, the bears will try to strengthen their position by pulling the ETH/USDT pair below $2,400. If they can pull it off, the pair could extend the pullback to the 20-day EMA ($2,147).

Contrarily, a bounce off $2,550 indicates that the bulls are buying on every minor dip. That enhances the likelihood of a rally to $3,000.

XRP price prediction

XRP’s (XRP) rally is facing resistance at $2.65, but a positive sign is that the bulls have not ceded ground to the bears.

XRP/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

That improves the prospects of a rally above $2.65. Once the resistance is scaled, the XRP/USDT pair could ascend to $3. Buyers are expected to face significant resistance from the bears in the $3 to $3.40 zone.

The 20-day EMA ($2.32) is the vital support to watch out for on the downside. If the price turns down sharply from $2.65 and breaks below the 20-day EMA, it suggests that bears remain sellers on rallies. That could result in a range formation between $2.65 and $2.

BNB price prediction

Buyers have kept BNB (BNB) above the breakout level of $644 but are struggling to push the price above the $675 level.

BNB/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The rising 20-day EMA ($627) and the RSI in the positive territory indicate that buyers have an edge. A break and close above $675 opens the doors for a possible rally to the overhead resistance of $745.

This positive view will be invalidated in the near term if the price turns down and breaks below the 20-day EMA. If that happens, the BNB/USDT pair could descend to the 50-day SMA ($603).

Solana price prediction

Solana (SOL) resumed its up move after breaking above the $180 resistance on May 13, but the bulls are struggling to hold on to the higher levels.

SOL/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The bears have pulled the price back below $180 on May 14. If they sustain the lower levels, the SOL/USDT pair could skid to the 20-day EMA ($159). A solid bounce off the 20-day EMA suggests the bullish momentum remains intact. The bulls will then try to catapult the pair to $210.

Contrarily, a break and close below the 20-day EMA signals that the breakout above $180 may have been a bull trap. The pair may then tumble to $153.

Dogecoin price prediction

Dogecoin (DOGE) bounced off the breakout level of $0.21 on May 13, signaling that the bulls are trying to flip the level into support.

DOGE/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The 20-day EMA ($0.20) has started to turn up, and the RSI is near the overbought territory, indicating advantage to buyers. A break and close above $0.26 signals the resumption of the rally. That opens the doors for a rally to $0.28 and thereafter to $0.31.

Instead, if the price turns down and breaks below $0.21, it suggests a lack of demand at higher levels. The DOGE/USDT pair may then slump to the 50-day SMA ($0.17), which is likely to act as strong support.

Cardano price prediction

Buyers have successfully held the retest of the neckline in Cardano (ADA), indicating buying on dips.

ADA/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The bulls will try to resume the up move by pushing the price above $0.86. If they manage to do that, the ADA/USDT pair could pick up momentum and rally toward the pattern target of $1.01.

This optimistic view will be negated in the near term if the price turns down and breaks below the neckline. That suggests the bears have overpowered the bulls. That could sink the pair to the 50-day SMA ($0.68).

Related: Ethereum retakes 10% market share, but ETH bulls shouldn’t celebrate yet

Sui price prediction

Sui (SUI) has been sandwiched between $4.25 and $3.90 for the past few days, indicating that the bulls are holding on to their positions as they anticipate another leg higher.

SUI/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

If buyers propel the price above $4.25, the SUI/USDT pair could pick up momentum and surge to $5. Buyers may find it difficult to clear the overhead zone between $5 and the all-time high of $5.37.

Alternatively, if the price turns down and closes below $3.90, it suggests that the bulls are booking profits. The pair may descend to the 20-day EMA ($3.57), which is likely to attract buyers. If the price rebounds off the 20-day EMA, the bulls will make another attempt to overcome the barrier at $4.25.

Chainlink price prediction

Chainlink’s (LINK) up move is facing selling at the resistance line, but a minor positive is that the bulls have not ceded much ground to the bears.

LINK/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

The upsloping 20-day EMA ($15.43) and the RSI near the overbought zone indicate the path of least resistance is to the upside. A short-term trend change will be signaled if buyers pierce the resistance line. The LINK/USDT pair could then rally toward the target objective of $21.30.

Sellers will have to tug the price below the neckline to gain strength. That could pull the pair to the 50-day SMA ($13.96). A break and close below the 50-day SMA suggest the pair may remain inside the descending channel pattern for some more time.

Avalanche price prediction

Avalanche (AVAX) bounced off the breakout level of $23.50, indicating that the bulls have flipped the level into support.

AVAX/USDT daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

There is minor resistance at $28.78, but it is likely to be crossed. If that happens, the AVAX/USDT pair could rally to $31.73 and subsequently to $36.

The 20-day EMA ($22.63) is the critical support to watch out for on the downside. If bears want to make a comeback, they will have to quickly pull the price below the 20-day EMA. The pair may then slide to $19, which is likely to attract buyers.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu has been found alive at his parents’ home in San Francisco, days after faking his suicide on a livestream that launched a supposed posthumous memecoin past $100 million.

Yu’s case isn’t the first time crypto has blurred the line between real death, faked death and something in between. 

From missing founders to sealed caskets, the industry has a long history of exits that left behind more questions than closure.

Here are five unsettling cases — real, staged or unresolved — that continue to haunt the crypto world.

1. Jeffy Yu faked his death, then his crypto pumped

A clip of Yu broadcasting his “suicide” circulated on May 4. The video showed him smoking a cigarette before pulling the trigger, then the camera dropped.

Hours later, a scheduled social media post announced the posthumous launch of LLJEFFY, a memecoin described as his “final art piece.” The coin surged to nearly $105 million in market cap.

LLJEFFY’s market fell to $5.63 million from its $105 million peak. Source: DEX Screener

But Yu wasn’t dead. Blockchain wallets tied to him kept moving. A copy of a letter — allegedly written by Yu — described the exit design as a response to ongoing harassment and blackmail.

Yu’s obituary on online memorial site Legacy.com has now been removed. Source: Vee/Legacy.com

Reporters from The San Francisco Standard eventually found Yu at his parents’ home. He refused to comment on the suicide stunt or whether he profited from it.

In the world of memecoins, this kind of spectacle isn’t new. In late 2024, Pump.fun’s livestream feature triggered a wave of stunts — suicide threats, animal abuse and other shocking acts — to pump token prices. The company shut it down and later relaunched a toned-down version.

2. A crypto whistleblower’s descent into paranoia and possible death

In February 2025, a suspected Chinese programmer who called themselves Hu Lezhi burned 500 Ether (ETH) (worth around $1.3 million at the time) and donated another 1,950 ETH (over $5 million) to various groups like WikiLeaks and the Ethereum Foundation. 

All of it came with onchain messages alleging that a hedge fund called WizardQuant (aka Kuande Investment) was using “brain-computer weapons” to control its employees — including Hu.

Related: 4chan rises from the dead: How the imageboard moves crypto markets

The messages read like sci-fi horror. Hu claimed he’d been a mind-control test subject since childhood and warned of a future where humans were nothing more than “puppets or complete slaves to the digital machine.”

Hu Lezhi’s final messages before disappearing. Source: Etherscan

In one of his last messages, Hu said they would “leave the world” if they reached the final stage of becoming a “complete slave to the digital machine.” Some translated the series of messages as an onchain suicide note.

To date, they haven’t re-emerged. And unlike Yu, Hu’s wallet hasn’t moved.

3. The crypto whiz and the cryptic tweet before his death

On Oct. 28, 2022, DeFi developer Nikolai Mushegian posted a chilling tweet: “CIA and Mossad and pedo elite are running some kind of sex trafficking entrapment blackmail ring… they are going to torture me to death.”

By the next morning, he was found face-down in the surf near his beach house in Puerto Rico.

A final tweet, a washed-up body, and silence louder than truth. Source: Nikolai Mushegian/fucnti0nZer0

Mushegian wasn’t a random crypto kid. He was an early developer at MakerDAO and a key architect of the stablecoin ecosystem. 

He was also increasingly paranoid — or, depending on who you ask, increasingly aware. Critics dismissed the tweet as a mental health crisis, but others weren’t so quick to look away.

Related: 8 major crypto firms announce US expansion this year

The timing of his death sparked a wave of theories: assassination, targeted silencing or even MKUltra-style mind control.

Officially, it was ruled an accidental drowning.

4. Crypto investors can’t believe QuadrigaCX founder’s death

In December 2018, Gerald Cotten, the 30-year-old founder of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, reportedly died in India from Crohn’s disease. 

But there was one massive problem: He was the only person with access to $190 million in crypto.

Cotten’s case was so high-profile that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary. Source: Netflix/YouTube

As news of his death spread, so did the questions. There was no public autopsy, his death certificate misspelled his name (spelling Cotten as Cottan), the casket was sealed, and a growing army of investors wanted his body exhumed for DNA testing.

Quadriga officially declared bankruptcy in 2019. Thousands of clients were locked out of their funds. Eventually, investigators discovered the cold wallets were empty, prompting auditor EY to begin recovery efforts.

Some suspected Cotten had run a Ponzi scheme for years and used his death as the ultimate escape plan. The rumors have not been confirmed, but the official story remains that he died a tragic death, as confirmed by Indian authorities. 

5. Reports of Cryptoqueen’s death are greatly exaggerated

Self-styled “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova, co-founder of the $4-billion OneCoin scam, hasn’t been seen since she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens in October 2017.

Cotten left no access. Ignatova left no trace.

Since then, rumors have swirled. Some say that she underwent plastic surgery and lives under a new identity or that she’s being protected by the Bulgarian mafia. 

A Bulgarian investigative outlet claims Ignatova was allegedly murdered in November 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea and that her body was dismembered and dumped overboard under the orders of Bulgarian crime boss Christophoros Amanatidis to cover his ties to OneCoin.

More recently, German officials reportedly assumed that Ignatova is in a South African suburb living with private security.

Ignatova has been on the US FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list since 2022.

 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation raised Ignatova’s bounty to $5 million in June 2024. Source: FBI

Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’

Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu has been found alive at his parents’ home in San Francisco, days after faking his suicide on a livestream that launched a supposed posthumous memecoin past $100 million.

Yu’s case isn’t the first time crypto has blurred the line between real death, faked death and something in between. 

From missing founders to sealed caskets, the industry has a long history of exits that left behind more questions than closure.

Here are five unsettling cases — real, staged or unresolved — that continue to haunt the crypto world.

1. Jeffy Yu faked his death, then his crypto pumped

A clip of Yu broadcasting his “suicide” circulated on May 4. The video showed him smoking a cigarette before pulling the trigger, then the camera dropped.

Hours later, a scheduled social media post announced the posthumous launch of LLJEFFY, a memecoin described as his “final art piece.” The coin surged to nearly $105 million in market cap.

LLJEFFY’s market fell to $5.63 million from its $105 million peak. Source: DEX Screener

But Yu wasn’t dead. Blockchain wallets tied to him kept moving. A copy of a letter — allegedly written by Yu — described the exit design as a response to ongoing harassment and blackmail.

Yu’s obituary on online memorial site Legacy.com has now been removed. Source: Vee/Legacy.com

Reporters from The San Francisco Standard eventually found Yu at his parents’ home. He refused to comment on the suicide stunt or whether he profited from it.

In the world of memecoins, this kind of spectacle isn’t new. In late 2024, Pump.fun’s livestream feature triggered a wave of stunts — suicide threats, animal abuse and other shocking acts — to pump token prices. The company shut it down and later relaunched a toned-down version.

2. A crypto whistleblower’s descent into paranoia and possible death

In February 2025, a suspected Chinese programmer who called themselves Hu Lezhi burned 500 Ether (ETH) (worth around $1.3 million at the time) and donated another 1,950 ETH (over $5 million) to various groups like WikiLeaks and the Ethereum Foundation. 

All of it came with onchain messages alleging that a hedge fund called WizardQuant (aka Kuande Investment) was using “brain-computer weapons” to control its employees — including Hu.

Related: 4chan rises from the dead: How the imageboard moves crypto markets

The messages read like sci-fi horror. Hu claimed he’d been a mind-control test subject since childhood and warned of a future where humans were nothing more than “puppets or complete slaves to the digital machine.”

Hu Lezhi’s final messages before disappearing. Source: Etherscan

In one of his last messages, Hu said they would “leave the world” if they reached the final stage of becoming a “complete slave to the digital machine.” Some translated the series of messages as an onchain suicide note.

To date, they haven’t re-emerged. And unlike Yu, Hu’s wallet hasn’t moved.

3. The crypto whiz and the cryptic tweet before his death

On Oct. 28, 2022, DeFi developer Nikolai Mushegian posted a chilling tweet: “CIA and Mossad and pedo elite are running some kind of sex trafficking entrapment blackmail ring… they are going to torture me to death.”

By the next morning, he was found face-down in the surf near his beach house in Puerto Rico.

A final tweet, a washed-up body, and silence louder than truth. Source: Nikolai Mushegian/fucnti0nZer0

Mushegian wasn’t a random crypto kid. He was an early developer at MakerDAO and a key architect of the stablecoin ecosystem. 

He was also increasingly paranoid — or, depending on who you ask, increasingly aware. Critics dismissed the tweet as a mental health crisis, but others weren’t so quick to look away.

Related: 8 major crypto firms announce US expansion this year

The timing of his death sparked a wave of theories: assassination, targeted silencing or even MKUltra-style mind control.

Officially, it was ruled an accidental drowning.

4. Crypto investors can’t believe QuadrigaCX founder’s death

In December 2018, Gerald Cotten, the 30-year-old founder of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, reportedly died in India from Crohn’s disease. 

But there was one massive problem: He was the only person with access to $190 million in crypto.

Cotten’s case was so high-profile that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary. Source: Netflix/YouTube

As news of his death spread, so did the questions. There was no public autopsy, his death certificate misspelled his name (spelling Cotten as Cottan), the casket was sealed, and a growing army of investors wanted his body exhumed for DNA testing.

Quadriga officially declared bankruptcy in 2019. Thousands of clients were locked out of their funds. Eventually, investigators discovered the cold wallets were empty, prompting auditor EY to begin recovery efforts.

Some suspected Cotten had run a Ponzi scheme for years and used his death as the ultimate escape plan. The rumors have not been confirmed, but the official story remains that he died a tragic death, as confirmed by Indian authorities. 

5. Reports of Cryptoqueen’s death are greatly exaggerated

Self-styled “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova, co-founder of the $4-billion OneCoin scam, hasn’t been seen since she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens in October 2017.

Cotten left no access; Ignatova left no trace.

Since then, rumors have swirled. Some say that she underwent plastic surgery and lives under a new identity or that she’s being protected by the Bulgarian mafia. 

A Bulgarian investigative outlet claims Ignatova was allegedly murdered in November 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea and that her body was dismembered and dumped overboard under the orders of Bulgarian crime boss Christophoros Amanatidis to cover his ties to OneCoin.

More recently, German officials reportedly assumed that Ignatova is in a South African suburb living with private security.

Ignatova has been on the US FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list since 2022.

 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation raised Ignatova’s bounty to $5 million in June 2024. Source: FBI

Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’

Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu has been found alive at his parents’ home in San Francisco, days after faking his suicide on a livestream that launched a supposed posthumous memecoin past $100 million.

Yu’s case isn’t the first time crypto has blurred the line between real death, faked death and something in between. 

From missing founders to sealed caskets, the industry has a long history of exits that left behind more questions than closure.

Here are five unsettling cases — real, staged or unresolved — that continue to haunt the crypto world.

1. Jeffy Yu faked his death, then his crypto pumped

A clip of Yu broadcasting his “suicide” circulated on May 4. The video showed him smoking a cigarette before pulling the trigger, then the camera dropped.

Hours later, a scheduled social media post announced the posthumous launch of LLJEFFY, a memecoin described as his “final art piece.” The coin surged to nearly $105 million in market cap.

LLJEFFY’s market fell to $5.63 million from its $105 million peak. Source: DEX Screener

But Yu wasn’t dead. Blockchain wallets tied to him kept moving. A copy of a letter — allegedly written by Yu — described the exit design as a response to ongoing harassment and blackmail.

Yu’s obituary on online memorial site Legacy.com has now been removed. Source: Vee/Legacy.com

Reporters from The San Francisco Standard eventually found Yu at his parents’ home. He refused to comment on the suicide stunt or whether he profited from it.

In the world of memecoins, this kind of spectacle isn’t new. In late 2024, Pump.fun’s livestream feature triggered a wave of stunts — suicide threats, animal abuse and other shocking acts — to pump token prices. The company shut it down and later relaunched a toned-down version.

2. A crypto whistleblower’s descent into paranoia and possible death

In February 2025, a suspected Chinese programmer who called themselves Hu Lezhi burned 500 Ether (ETH) (worth around $1.3 million at the time) and donated another 1,950 ETH (over $5 million) to various groups like WikiLeaks and the Ethereum Foundation. 

All of it came with onchain messages alleging that a hedge fund called WizardQuant (aka Kuande Investment) was using “brain-computer weapons” to control its employees — including Hu.

Related: 4chan rises from the dead: How the imageboard moves crypto markets

The messages read like sci-fi horror. Hu claimed he’d been a mind-control test subject since childhood and warned of a future where humans were nothing more than “puppets or complete slaves to the digital machine.”

Hu Lezhi’s final messages before disappearing. Source: Etherscan

In one of his last messages, Hu said they would “leave the world” if they reached the final stage of becoming a “complete slave to the digital machine.” Some translated the series of messages as an onchain suicide note.

To date, they haven’t re-emerged. And unlike Yu, Hu’s wallet hasn’t moved.

3. The crypto whiz and the cryptic tweet before his death

On Oct. 28, 2022, DeFi developer Nikolai Mushegian posted a chilling tweet: “CIA and Mossad and pedo elite are running some kind of sex trafficking entrapment blackmail ring… they are going to torture me to death.”

By the next morning, he was found face-down in the surf near his beach house in Puerto Rico.

A final tweet, a washed-up body, and silence louder than truth. Source: Nikolai Mushegian/fucnti0nZer0

Mushegian wasn’t a random crypto kid. He was an early developer at MakerDAO and a key architect of the stablecoin ecosystem. 

He was also increasingly paranoid — or, depending on who you ask, increasingly aware. Critics dismissed the tweet as a mental health crisis, but others weren’t so quick to look away.

Related: 8 major crypto firms announce US expansion this year

The timing of his death sparked a wave of theories: assassination, targeted silencing or even MKUltra-style mind control.

Officially, it was ruled an accidental drowning.

4. Crypto investors can’t believe QuadrigaCX founder’s death

In December 2018, Gerald Cotten, the 30-year-old founder of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, reportedly died in India from Crohn’s disease. 

But there was one massive problem: He was the only person with access to $190 million in crypto.

Cotten’s case was so high-profile that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary. Source: Netflix/YouTube

As news of his death spread, so did the questions. There was no public autopsy, his death certificate misspelled his name (spelling Cotten as Cottan), the casket was sealed, and a growing army of investors wanted his body exhumed for DNA testing.

Quadriga officially declared bankruptcy in 2019. Thousands of clients were locked out of their funds. Eventually, investigators discovered the cold wallets were empty, prompting auditor EY to begin recovery efforts.

Some suspected Cotten had run a Ponzi scheme for years and used his death as the ultimate escape plan. The rumors have not been confirmed, but the official story remains that he died a tragic death, as confirmed by Indian authorities. 

5. Reports of Cryptoqueen’s death are greatly exaggerated

Self-styled “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova, co-founder of the $4-billion OneCoin scam, hasn’t been seen since she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens in October 2017.

Cotten left no access; Ignatova left no trace.

Since then, rumors have swirled. Some say that she underwent plastic surgery and lives under a new identity or that she’s being protected by the Bulgarian mafia. 

A Bulgarian investigative outlet claims Ignatova was allegedly murdered in November 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea and that her body was dismembered and dumped overboard under the orders of Bulgarian crime boss Christophoros Amanatidis to cover his ties to OneCoin.

More recently, German officials reportedly assumed that Ignatova is in a South African suburb living with private security.

Ignatova has been on the US FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list since 2022.

 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation raised Ignatova’s bounty to $5 million in June 2024. Source: FBI

Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’

Zerebro developer Jeffy Yu has been found alive at his parents’ home in San Francisco, days after faking his suicide on a livestream that launched a supposed posthumous memecoin past $100 million.

Yu’s case isn’t the first time crypto has blurred the line between real death, faked death and something in between. 

From missing founders to sealed caskets, the industry has a long history of exits that left behind more questions than closure.

Here are five unsettling cases — real, staged or unresolved — that continue to haunt the crypto world.

1. Jeffy Yu faked his death, then his crypto pumped

A clip of Yu broadcasting his “suicide” circulated on May 4. The video showed him smoking a cigarette before pulling the trigger, then the camera dropped.

Hours later, a scheduled social media post announced the posthumous launch of LLJEFFY, a memecoin described as his “final art piece.” The coin surged to nearly $105 million in market cap.

LLJEFFY’s market fell to $5.63 million from its $105 million peak. Source: DEX Screener

But Yu wasn’t dead. Blockchain wallets tied to him kept moving. A copy of a letter — allegedly written by Yu — described the exit design as a response to ongoing harassment and blackmail.

Yu’s obituary on online memorial site Legacy.com has now been removed. Source: Vee/Legacy.com

Reporters from The San Francisco Standard eventually found Yu at his parents’ home. He refused to comment on the suicide stunt or whether he profited from it.

In the world of memecoins, this kind of spectacle isn’t new. In late 2024, Pump.fun’s livestream feature triggered a wave of stunts — suicide threats, animal abuse and other shocking acts — to pump token prices. The company shut it down and later relaunched a toned-down version.

2. A crypto whistleblower’s descent into paranoia and possible death

In February 2025, a suspected Chinese programmer who called themselves Hu Lezhi burned 500 Ether (ETH) (worth around $1.3 million at the time) and donated another 1,950 ETH (over $5 million) to various groups like WikiLeaks and the Ethereum Foundation. 

All of it came with onchain messages alleging that a hedge fund called WizardQuant (aka Kuande Investment) was using “brain-computer weapons” to control its employees — including Hu.

Related: 4chan rises from the dead: How the imageboard moves crypto markets

The messages read like sci-fi horror. Hu claimed he’d been a mind-control test subject since childhood and warned of a future where humans were nothing more than “puppets or complete slaves to the digital machine.”

Hu Lezhi’s final messages before disappearing. Source: Etherscan

In one of his last messages, Hu said they would “leave the world” if they reached the final stage of becoming a “complete slave to the digital machine.” Some translated the series of messages as an onchain suicide note.

To date, they haven’t re-emerged. And unlike Yu, Hu’s wallet hasn’t moved.

3. The crypto whiz and the cryptic tweet before his death

On Oct. 28, 2022, DeFi developer Nikolai Mushegian posted a chilling tweet: “CIA and Mossad and pedo elite are running some kind of sex trafficking entrapment blackmail ring… they are going to torture me to death.”

By the next morning, he was found face-down in the surf near his beach house in Puerto Rico.

A final tweet, a washed-up body, and silence louder than truth. Source: Nikolai Mushegian/fucnti0nZer0

Mushegian wasn’t a random crypto kid. He was an early developer at MakerDAO and a key architect of the stablecoin ecosystem. 

He was also increasingly paranoid — or, depending on who you ask, increasingly aware. Critics dismissed the tweet as a mental health crisis, but others weren’t so quick to look away.

Related: 8 major crypto firms announce US expansion this year

The timing of his death sparked a wave of theories: assassination, targeted silencing or even MKUltra-style mind control.

Officially, it was ruled an accidental drowning.

4. Crypto investors can’t believe QuadrigaCX founder’s death

In December 2018, Gerald Cotten, the 30-year-old founder of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, reportedly died in India from Crohn’s disease. 

But there was one massive problem: He was the only person with access to $190 million in crypto.

Cotten’s case was so high-profile that it became the subject of a Netflix documentary. Source: Netflix/YouTube

As news of his death spread, so did the questions. There was no public autopsy, his death certificate misspelled his name (spelling Cotten as Cottan), the casket was sealed, and a growing army of investors wanted his body exhumed for DNA testing.

Quadriga officially declared bankruptcy in 2019. Thousands of clients were locked out of their funds. Eventually, investigators discovered the cold wallets were empty, prompting auditor EY to begin recovery efforts.

Some suspected Cotten had run a Ponzi scheme for years and used his death as the ultimate escape plan. The rumors have not been confirmed, but the official story remains that he died a tragic death, as confirmed by Indian authorities. 

5. Reports of Cryptoqueen’s death are greatly exaggerated

Self-styled “Cryptoqueen” Ruja Ignatova, co-founder of the $4-billion OneCoin scam, hasn’t been seen since she boarded a Ryanair flight from Sofia to Athens in October 2017.

Cotten left no access; Ignatova left no trace.

Since then, rumors have swirled. Some say that she underwent plastic surgery and lives under a new identity or that she’s being protected by the Bulgarian mafia. 

A Bulgarian investigative outlet claims Ignatova was allegedly murdered in November 2018 on a yacht in the Ionian Sea and that her body was dismembered and dumped overboard under the orders of Bulgarian crime boss Christophoros Amanatidis to cover his ties to OneCoin.

More recently, German officials reportedly assumed that Ignatova is in a South African suburb living with private security.

Ignatova has been on the US FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list since 2022.

 The US Federal Bureau of Investigation raised Ignatova’s bounty to $5 million in June 2024. Source: FBI

Magazine: 10 crypto theories that missed as badly as ‘Peter Todd is Satoshi’

Key Takeaways:

Bitcoin’s realized cap has grown by $30 billion since April 20, reflecting steady investor confidence and new capital inflows.

A Bitcoin price consolidation pattern forecasts a potential 10% breakout by next week.

Bitcoin (BTC) continues to show strong bullish momentum as fresh capital inflows signal potential new price highs in the coming week. In an X post, Glassnode reported that Bitcoin’s Realized Cap, which measures the total value of BTC based on the price at which each coin last moved, grew by $30 billion since April 20, growing at a 3% monthly rate in May. The current realized cap is $900 billion.

Bitcoin Realize cap. Source: Glassnode

Though slower than the 8% spike in late 2024 when BTC hit $93,000, this growth reflects steady investor confidence and new capital entering the market.

Adding to the optimism, Glassnode revealed a significant shift in market dynamics. The 7-day simple moving average (SMA) of Bitcoin’s Spot Volume Delta flipped positive, peaking near $5 billion on May 13.

Bitcoin spot volume delta. Source: Glassnode

This aggressive net spot buyer demand, seen only a few times this year as highlighted, confirms strong spot market conviction behind Bitcoin’s recent push above the $100,000 psychological resistance. The surge in spot buying pressure suggests institutional and retail investors drive the rally, not just leveraged trading.

Despite the slower Realized Cap growth compared to late 2024’s $50 billion spike, the current market sentiment remains positive.

Related: Strategy will beat all public equities with Bitcoin, analyst says

Will Bitcoin gain 10% by next week?

Bitcoin has shown a steady consolidation and expansion trend since forming a bottom around $74,500 in early April. Over the past four weeks, a pattern has emerged where each time Bitcoin hits a key level, it moves sideways before breaking out to a higher range. This pattern has repeated twice, with a third consolidation currently underway.

Bitcoin 4-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Each phase has followed a similar setup, forming higher upper and lower ranges. The bottom range is typically tested at least once before Bitcoin pushes to new highs. The relative strength index (RSI) has complemented this price action, reaching overbought levels during new highs and dropping to around 50 during sideways movement.

Currently, Bitcoin is consolidating between an upper range of $105,700 and a lower range of $100,678. If the pattern holds, Bitcoin might retest the $100,000-$102,000 level before potentially breaking above $110,000. However, a bearish invalidation could occur if prices fall below $102,000 and fail to recover swiftly.

Related: Market volatility indicator still points to $135K Bitcoin within 100 days — Analyst

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.