I gave him 600 bitcoins, but he committed suicide last week.

Editor's note: The original article comes from BlockBeats (ID: BlockBeats), author 0x30

In October 2018, Chen Lin, the owner of a Bitcoin mine, invested a total of 600 BTC in two installments in an investment platform called "BitEasy" after being introduced by a friend.

In addition to the introduction of his friend, Chen Lin originally intended to invest 600 BTC because Hui Yi, the founder of BitEasy, is a successful serial entrepreneur and investor. Hui Yi founded P2P companies twice and withdrew from the P2P explosion with hundreds of millions of profits. He also escaped the stock market crash when the A-share market was at 5,000 points, and was known as "Hui Shen". BitEasy also said that it had received a strategic investment in the A round from SoftBank China Capital.

However, on June 10 this week, a piece of news that spread quickly shocked Chen Lin: Hui Yi, the founder of Bitcoin Easy, committed suicide on June 5 due to a liquidation of 2,000 BTC. He was only 42 years old.

"He's dead, what about my money?" After seeing this message, Chen Lin hurriedly verified the matter in the BitEasy investor group and contacted BitEasy customer service. Only then did he realize that the entire BitEasy was empty. Less than a week after Hui Yi committed suicide, the original BitEasy employees and partners also distanced themselves from him.

I gave him 600 bitcoins, but he committed suicide last week! Chen Lin told BlockBeats that as Hui Yi's suicide unfolded, things became more and more confusing. Not only was there no hope of getting his money back, but he was also involved in a bizarre death.

The main doubts raised by the outside world include: there is no solid evidence to prove that BitEasy had a futures margin call of 2,000 BTC; BitEasy has close ties with the P2P platform "Wanglibao" that was recently involved in a case of more than 3 billion yuan and collapsed; shareholders and employees have kept silent about investment losses and shirked responsibility.

Behind this suspicious suicide incident, there are several main doubts:

1. It is said in the cryptocurrency circle that the direct cause of Hui Yi's suicide was a loss of 2,000 BTC due to a futures liquidation. However, there is no conclusive evidence to prove that the futures liquidation caused a loss of 2,000 BTC.

2. Some investors believe that without seeing police records and death notices, there is a hidden reason for Hui Yi's suicide. The possibility of Hui Yi faking his death or being murdered cannot be ruled out.

3. It is said in the P2P circle that BitEasy has a close connection with the P2P platform "Wanglibao" which was involved in a case involving more than 3 billion yuan and collapsed recently. BitEasy undertook the task of mobilizing assets, transferring them abroad, and providing blood transfusion for "Wanglibao".

4. Some employees said that their attendance and salary were posted on Wanglibao, and there was a lot of overlap in the management of the two companies. Wanglibao CEO Zhao Runlong was previously in the company group of BitEasy, and he was taken into custody by the police at the beginning of this year.

5. Will debts be eliminated when a person dies? The founder of BitEasy committed suicide, and other shareholders of the company distanced themselves from the matter. They did not mention user assets and did not provide a reasonable solution for user assets.

BTC liquidated? What should users do with their assets?

"You have to understand that before Mr. Hui committed suicide, his label in the industry was Huishen. We have never promised returns. Investors give their money to BTE because they trust Mr. Hui and BTE's product."

Wang Zhi joined BitEasy in August 2018. Before he left in February 2019, he had signed more than 30 non-institutional small and medium-sized clients, with about 70 BTC.

Wang Zhi also confirmed the previous report by Planet Daily that the funds of BitEasy mainly come from institutional users. "BitEasy has been raising funds from institutions. Lou Jiyue's Tokenmania had funds here before. Retail investors only raise small amounts."

Wang Zhi also told BlockBeats that he had always thought that SoftBank had actually invested in BitEasy, but only after Hui Yi got into trouble did he realize that SoftBank had not paid. SoftBank China also issued a statement on June 11 to distance itself from its investment relationship with BitEasy.

However, there is still no reliable source to confirm Hui Yi's profit and loss situation as to whether he really lost 2,000 BTC in the contract. With the emergence of the claim that Hui Yi committed suicide and lost 2,000 BTC, investors' money may really be missing.

An Anhui investor who had signed a contract with Wang Zhi showed BlockBeats the "Entrust Management Agreement" between him and BitEasy, which stated that the agreement does not serve as a guarantee of the security of the entrusted assets and does not indicate any substantive judgment or guarantee on the value of its management.

The investor also said that he had already reported the case to the local police, but the police did not file a case. He will go to Beijing to file a case next. In a BitEasy investor rights protection group, some investors also expressed concerns about whether they can protect their rights. Since there are no clear legal provisions for digital currency transactions in my country, various investment and financial management in the currency circle have always been done in secret and dare not be brought to the surface. At present, BitEasy investors have not successfully accepted the case.

Involved in the 3 billion P2P explosion case

Chen Lin, the owner of the mining farm, told BlockBeats that just a few of his friends and clients have invested more than 1,500 BTC, and he himself has also invested 600 BTC.

Chen Lin estimated that the user assets involved in BitEasy amounted to at least 3,000 BTC, a figure that is consistent with the 3,000 BTC involved in the case counted by another media outlet, "9th Floor Interview".

“Is it worth committing suicide for 3,000 BTC? This is a death without reconciliation!” Chen Lin and his friends believe that without seeing the police records and death notice, it is impossible to conclude that Hui Yi really committed suicide. In addition, without seeing the balance changes of the BTC address and the exchange operation records, it is even more impossible to conclude that the investors’ assets have been liquidated and all losses have been lost.

In terms of motivation, Hui Yi had no need to commit suicide for 3,000 BTC (about 160 million RMB). As an entrepreneur who founded two P2P companies and successfully exited with hundreds of millions of profits, he could afford to lose 3,000 BTC, so there was no need to commit suicide.

This can only mean that what made Hui Yi commit suicide must be a huge amount of money involved in a crash that was larger than 3,000 BTC, which he could not bear. The most likely cause was the P2P platform "Wanglibao" that was involved in a case involving more than 3 billion yuan and crashed. According to a widely circulated screenshot whose source is unknown, BitEasy was accused of taking on the task of moving assets of "Wanglibao" and transferring them abroad.

Former employee Wang Zhi told BlockBeats that Zhao Runlong, the actual controller of "Wanglibao", was also in the company group of BitEasy. The attendance and salary of some employees were posted on "Wanglibao". Zhao Runlong and some Wanglibao executives were arrested earlier this year for the explosion, involving more than 40,000 investors and a total amount of 3 billion yuan.

Prior to this, BitEasy had been providing blood transfusions to Netlibao, that is, Netlibao raised BTC through BitEasy, and then converted it into legal currency to provide blood transfusions to Netlibao. In addition, BitEasy and Netlibao also have a lot of overlaps in management and shareholders. Hui Yi is the largest shareholder of BitEasy, holding 46.93% of the shares; among the other shareholders, Li Chao holds 32.85%; Gan Jiahui holds 6.13%.

According to BitEasy employees, shareholder Gan Jiahui is Gan Jiafeng's younger brother and has a close relationship with Zhao Runlong. In fact, he is Zhao Runlong's proxy shareholder. Li Chao is also the second-in-command of "Wanglibao". After the collapse of "Wanglibao", he fled to the United States.

After sorting out these relationships, it is not clear that there is a bigger explosion case behind Hui Yi's suicide. The two major shareholders behind BitEasy, Zhao Runlong has been arrested, and Li Chao has fled. What kind of situation will Hui Yi face?

Employee shareholders keep silent about investment losses

The initial source of news about Hui Yi's suicide was a message sent by Zhang Xintong, an EMABA student at Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business and a former partner of BitEasy, in a WeChat group. According to the revelation, Hui Yi committed suicide by hanging himself in BitEasy's new office in the early morning of June 5. When the employees came to work at 10 o'clock and found him, it was too late to save him.

The police then arrived and obtained the video footage in the office, which showed that Hui Yi returned to the company at 6 p.m. on June 4, when the employees had already left work. The video then showed that Ms. Zhang Xintong came to the office with another shareholder, and the three of them chatted with Hui Yi for a while before Hui Yi sent them away. A few hours later, Hui Yi committed suicide in the office.

As for what the three people talked about in Hui Yi's office, no one knew.

What we have seen so far is that the original office of the BitEasy team has been emptied, but the new office has been deliberately kept secret. Partners and employees have also stopped contacting the outside world and have not responded to any interviews. We can only see voices such as the funeral committee in the media.

Investors suffered losses from their own investments, but no one took responsibility. After Hui Yi committed suicide, BitEasy's partners and related teams all lost their voices and did not respond to the outside world. BitEasy employees' WeChat Moments have all been closed and not open to the public. A large number of investors complained in the community that they could not get in touch with them. Some investors said, "I can't get in touch with anyone. All of them are out of touch."

An investor who invested hundreds of bitcoins in BitEasy also revealed that other shareholders of BitEasy are distancing themselves from Hui Yi. He said, "It really makes the deceased and investors feel disheartened. I cannot agree with Hui Yi's suicide. The shareholders and employees of BitEasy are shirking their responsibilities, which is even more annoying."

Regarding the fact that BitEasy’s partners distanced themselves from the matter, he also said in his circle of friends, “For those who have already lost, there is still a sense of responsibility. It is precisely because of this sense of responsibility that they choose to escape, and the living people are using this escape to cover up the truth, but God is watching.”

If you pay closer attention, you will find that the whereabouts of 3,000 BTC of user assets are unknown after the founder of BitEasy committed suicide, which is similar to the incident in which the founder of QuadrigaCX exchange died unexpectedly and $147 million disappeared.

At the beginning of this year, it was revealed that the founder of QuadrigaCX exchange, Cotten, died unexpectedly and lost his private key, resulting in the inability to access the cold wallet. The $147 million in user funds could not be withdrawn due to "no reconciliation", which aroused a lot of doubts.

Many institutions and investors have found through investigations that the private keys of the exchange’s cold wallets were not lost or that multiple signatures were used; his partner was a fraudster who had been imprisoned; the death certificate of the founder Cotten may have been forged by a local hospital in India; Cotten’s death was announced nearly a month after his death, which makes the time of death suspicious.

Currently, all partners and related teams of BitEasy have lost their voices. They only said that the assets were liquidated, and no longer explained where the user assets went. BitEasy has a close equity relationship with "Wanglibao", and its major shareholders have been arrested or are on the run.

Hui Yi’s police record and death certificate have not been made public. According to insiders, Hui Yi committed suicide on June 5. Zhang Xintong, a former partner, had known about Hui Yi’s death and disclosed it to major clients, but she kept it a secret from the outside world until June 10, when the matter began to ferment and was known to most investors. The timing of the announcement of the death is also suspicious.

In fact, it is very simple to calm down this incident. Shareholders and current executives should quickly disclose the operation records and balances of customer assets to investors, and then formulate compensation or liquidation plans. May the deceased rest in peace.

(Chen Lin and Wang Zhi are pseudonyms for the interviewees in this article)