(These five cryptocurrency figures mysteriously disappeared, died, or fooled the entire industry)

Jeffy Yu, a developer of Zerebro, was found alive days after staging a fake suicide during a live stream and is now living at his parents' home in San Francisco.

The world of cryptocurrencies is filled with stories that boggle the mind, blurring the lines between reality and fabrication. We've seen meme coins rise to astronomical highs, programmers perform acts of defiance against hedge funds, and founders vanish without a trace.

These five cases, in particular, continue to spark discussion and speculation within the industry.

1) A Dev's Fake Suicide Leads to Meme Coin Surging Over $100 Million

Earlier this year, a video clip showing Jeffy Yu, a developer of Zerebro, staging his 'suicide' during a live stream went viral.

In the footage, Yu calmly smoked a cigarette before pulling the trigger of a handgun as the camera fell.

The live stream ended abruptly, but the scene was later uploaded to YouTube, quickly accumulating millions of views.

A pre-arranged social media post announced the release of LLJEFFY coin, a meme coin that would serve as Yu's 'final artwork'.

The coin's market value subsequently soared to nearly $105 million. However, the blockchain wallet associated with Yu remained active even after the suicide performance, which was said to be a response to long-term harassment and extortion.

According to a letter allegedly written by Yu, he planned to stay at his parents' San Francisco home after the incident.

When contacted by reporters, Yu refused to comment on the suicide performance or whether he profited from it.

2) Programmer Destroys 500 ETH and Donates Millions to End Career in 'Sci-Fi Horror'

In February, a programmer claiming to be Hu Lezhi destroyed 500 Ether (ETH) (then valued at about $1.3 million) and donated another 1,950 ETH (worth over $5 million) to various organizations, including WikiLeaks and the Ethereum Foundation.

These transactions were accompanied by a series of on-chain messages claiming that a hedge fund named WizardQuant (also known as Wonder Investments) was using 'brain-machine weapons' to control its employees—including Hu himself.

The messages read like a sci-fi horror novel. Hu claimed he had been a subject of mind control experiments since childhood and warned that humanity would become 'puppets or total slaves of digital machines' in the future.

In his last message, Hu stated that if they reached the ultimate state of becoming 'complete slaves to digital machines', they would choose to 'leave this world'. Some analysts interpreted these consecutive messages as an on-chain suicide note.

As of now, they have not reappeared. Unlike Yu's case, Hu's wallet has also shown no signs of activity.

3) Decoding the Mysterious Death of a Major Stablecoin Architect

On October 28, 2022, Nikolai Mushegian, a DeFi development expert, posted a disturbing tweet: 'The CIA and Mossad and certain wealthy elites are running a sex trafficking blackmail ring... They will torture me to death.'

The next morning, he was found floating face down in the waters near his beach villa in Puerto Rico.

Mushegian was not just an ordinary cryptocurrency practitioner. He was an early developer of MakerDAO and a core architect of the stablecoin ecosystem.

He became increasingly paranoid—or, from different perspectives, increasingly insightful. Critics viewed this tweet as a manifestation of a mental health crisis, but others were not quick to downplay it.

The timing of his death sparked a series of speculations: assassination, targeted silencing, and even MKUltra-style mind control.

Officials ultimately classified it as an accidental drowning.

4) A Sealed Coffin and A Billion-Dollar Ponzi Scheme?

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

But a major problem arose: he was the only one able to access $190 million worth of crypto assets.

As news of his death spread, skepticism arose. There was no public autopsy report, his name was misspelled on the death certificate (Cotten was spelled as Cottan), the coffin was sealed, and more investors demanded DNA testing of his remains.

Quadriga officially declared bankruptcy in 2019. Thousands of customers were locked out of their funds. Eventually, investigators discovered that the cold wallet had been completely drained, prompting the auditing firm EY to begin asset recovery efforts.

Some people suspect Cotten had been running a Ponzi scheme for years and used his 'death' as the ultimate escape plan. These speculations have not been confirmed, but the official narrative still insists he died in a tragic incident, which has been confirmed by Indian authorities.

5. The U.S. Authorities Are Still Searching for the ‘Crypto Queen’

Ruja Ignatova, the co-founder of the $4 billion OneCoin scam who calls herself the '