Media: Trading platform 58Coin was investigated, "nearly 10 police cars took away hundreds of people"

Source: Blue Whale Finance

Author: Jin Ziqi

Original title: "58Coin Exchange workplace investigated, "nearly 10 police cars took away hundreds of people""

Recently, a user of the cryptocurrency exchange 58Coin said that he was unable to withdraw money from the platform.

Blue Whale Finance went to a 58Coin workplace in Shanghai to verify that no one was on duty and the office door was closed. There was no specific company name at the front desk, and there were items left with 58Coin printed on them. According to people familiar with the matter and many people around the place, more than 10 police cars went to the place in the middle of last week and took away all the employees of the workplace, about 200 people. Blue Whale Finance learned that some employees have been released by the police.

It is reported that another local employee of 58Coin's affiliated company was also taken away. It is rumored that 400 employees in Shanghai were affected.

In addition, 58Coin has offices in Xi'an and Beijing. An employee of the Xi'an branch told investors that the company is in operation. At the same time, online pictures show that the Beijing-based company is operating normally. Multiple sources told Blue Whale Finance that at a blockchain conference held in Shenzhen in December 2020, a 58Coin executive was suspected of being taken away by the police. It is still unclear whether the actual controller of 58Coin is under police control.

According to the official website of 58Coin, the platform was established in the Marshall Islands in November 2017, and has offices in Japan, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. At the end of 2019, Shanghai regulators conducted a survey and rectification of virtual currency exchanges in the local area. At that time, Binance Exchange was exposed to have an office in Shanghai, and currently has a research institute in Lingang. Shortly after the ICO ban was issued in 2017, major exchanges have moved their servers overseas, indicating that their headquarters are located abroad.

Like other exchanges that have been exposed to be operating in Shanghai, 58Coin has no signs at the front desk, and there are no platform name guides in the building. Except for the main entrance, other indoor doors and windows are frosted glass, which has a high degree of privacy.

A page of suspected company compliance requirements shows that 58Coin employees are prohibited from disclosing company and personal information, explaining that it is a transaction investment to avoid unnecessary trouble. As far as we know, 58Coin has a large number of employees who are salesmen. Their work includes applying for multiple WeChat and QQ accounts, inviting people to join groups, using simulated trading to post orders, and attracting new users to register and recharge. From the suspected employee instructions obtained, salesmen are required to have at least 5 WeChat accounts, including main accounts, business accounts and customer accounts, of which customer accounts are used to join peer groups.

According to users, the platform mainly relies on salesmen to expand its scale, while having low handling fees. 58Coin advertises that the platform's contract trading, exchange and mining pool business are all ranked first, and the handling fee is 1.5 per ten thousandth, the lowest in the entire network. It is reported that the handling fee of some leading exchanges can be as high as one thousandth. 58Coin application involves a variety of contract transactions and cloud computing products. The Bit Computing Platform provides mining machine sales and hosting as well as cloud computing services.

Unconfirmed information shows that 58Coin is accused of taking advantage of customers’ losses, using Ponzi schemes, pig-killing schemes and contract-carrying teachers. Once a customer loses money, the person who brings the customer will receive a corresponding commission. It also posted unclear police reports and case receipts. According to informed sources, the police’s characterization of 58Coin may involve financial fraud, but there is no official announcement to confirm it. Some investors have reported to the local police for being defrauded.

58Coin also issued the platform token 58coin, which was launched in 2018. According to Feixiaohao data, 58B rose to a historical high of 0.16 yuan in December, and then fell back to the current price of 0.1 yuan. Some investors said that after buying 58B based on the actual controller's promise of returns, the price of the currency plummeted and caused them to suffer heavy losses. Because the platform currency is issued by a centralized exchange, the information such as the number of issuance and destruction is not very transparent, and the price may be manipulated by the issuer.

The platform's cryptocurrency contract products have been questioned, and public pictures have pointed out that 58Coin's multiple contract product trading pairs have had "pin-ins" and caused customer assets to be liquidated. Several exchanges have faced similar problems.

Currently, 58Coin's online customer service is busy and only messages are accepted. In the official user group, some people said that the withdrawals have been received, while others said that the withdrawals have not been received for 3 days.

In 2019, Blue Whale Finance reported that the "NEEQ Leading No. 5" product under Yuanpu Investment, which is associated with 58Coin, could not be redeemed, revealing that its related company had lost contact and made a comeback with the exchange.

Although the workplace did not mark the subject. From multiple job search information, 58Coin's related companies include Beijing Hongying Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Hongying Technology") and Tianbi Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianbi Technology"), which are registered in Beijing and Shanghai respectively, and are both backed by Zhang Qiang. According to information provided by investors who went to the scene, the public subject of Xi'an workplace is only associated with two natural persons, which looks like a shell company.

An informed source said that 58Coin is a "family-style" company centered on Zhang Qiang. According to Tianyancha data, the current legal person of Hongying Technology is Lu Qiang, who is also the legal person of Shanghai Yuanpu Investment Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yuanpu Investment") and a shareholder of Tianbi Technology. Xu Zuo has served as the legal person of Hongying Technology and Tianbi Technology. The legal person of Tianbi Technology is currently Xu Jingpo. Before 2018, Xu Zuo resigned as the legal person of Hongying Technology and Lu Qiang took over. During the same period, the original shareholders Shanghai Qikun Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Qikun Information") and Shanghai Yasheng Information Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Yasheng Information") were also changed to wholly owned by Lu Qiang.

Currently, Zhang is the main person and shareholder of Yasheng Information. The legal representative of Shanghai Chuanmao Asset Management Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Chuanmao Asset"), in which Qikun Information participated, was originally Xu Mimi, but was changed in December 2020. The supervisors of Hongying Technology and Tianbi Technology are both Xu Mimi.

Founder Zhang Qiang has resigned as the legal representative of Yuanpu Investment and Chuanmao Asset. In June 2019, the list of suspected missing persons released by the China Securities Association included Chuanmao Asset. Yuanpu Investment was previously deregistered as a private equity manager, and the above two companies are no longer available on the list of private equity managers of the China Securities Association.

It is understood that China Investment Online was accused of having a connection with it. Tianyancha information shows that the chairman of China Investment Online Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Investment Online") is named Zhang Qiang, and the registered place is Shanghai. Tianyancha did not associate it with the founder of Yuanpu Investment. At the same time, Chuanmao Asset once registered the brand product "China Investment Online". There is a public article "How to cultivate 12 billion: Counting the seven weapons of Yuanpu Investment founder Zhang Qiang" introducing that the two platforms are under Zhang Qiang. The article stated that Zhang Qiang engaged in precious metal investment in 2011, and during the development period of Yuanpu Investment, he founded China Investment Online as a senior private equity investor.

Yuanpu Investment was established in 2014. It is said that it has a lot of investments in the New Third Board, and one of its products is called the New Third Board Leading Series. According to customer service, the company is looking for a takeover party due to the current poor market conditions on the New Third Board, and plans to transfer out by agreement. Currently, the official website of Yuanpu Investment is no longer available.