Coffeezilla

Last updated

Coffeezilla
Coffeezilla (cropped).jpg
Findeisen in December 2022
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2018–present
Genre(s)Commentary, finance
Subscribers3.44 million [1]
(10 March 2024)
Total views420 million [1]
(10 March 2024)
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg100,000 subscribers
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg1,000,000 subscribers

Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, is an American YouTuber and crypto journalist who is known primarily for his channel in which he investigates and discusses online scams, usually surrounding cryptocurrency, decentralized finance and internet celebrities. [2] Before Coffeezilla, Findeisen was active on YouTube with the channel Coffee Break between 2017 and 2020.

Contents

Education

Findeisen holds a degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University. [3] [4]

Career

Before his YouTube career, he sold houses for a local builder. [5] Findeisen was motivated to hunt down scams after his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer, was persuaded to buy questionable products with the belief that they would help cure her. [4] His mother would later end up recovering after surgery. [6] He began his career as a YouTuber by uploading videos in which he makes allegations about influencers and financial commentators. [4] [7]

Style

Findeisen generally records his videos in front of a green screen; his backgrounds feature elaborate computer graphics, and he inserts animated graphics to illustrate his content, including a recurring character of a robot bartender. [4]

Notable investigations

Save the Kids token

He gained international recognition after making a series of videos that investigated Save the Kids token, a cryptocurrency widely seen as a pump and dump scheme. He claimed that former FaZe Clan member Frazier Khattri (FaZe Kay) collaborated with YouTube prankster Sam Pepper. In response, Khattri's lawyers threatened to sue Findeisen in a cease and desist letter unless he retracted his statements, but Findeisen called the cease and desist letter "absolute toilet paper". [8] [9]

SafeMoon

In April 2022, Findeisen accused the SafeMoon team of misappropriating millions of dollars. [10] According to Findeisen, Safemoon CEO John Karony had been removing funds from the liquidity pool which is the primary explanation for the crypto's price pattern. Findeisen found evidence of transactions that showed Safemoon's liquidity wallet moving funds to a wallet dubbed the "Gabe (6abe) wallet" which withdrew funds to a separate company run by Karony. Former SafeMoon CTO Thomas "Papa" Smith was the only person who responded to Findeisen's claims stating that funds were taken from the "locked liquidity pool" before Karony's appointment. He sent Smith evidence of this in the form of a blockchain transaction showing an outflow of 36.7 trillion tokens from the liquidity pool, dated March 5, 2021. [4] Former SafeMoon CTO, Thomas Smith who had a role as a blockchain advisor for StrikeX, was dismissed by the company after the fraud allegations uncovered by Findeisen. [11] Coffeezilla has made multiple other reports on SafeMoon, including the pump and dump scheme against many influencers including Soulja Boy, Logan Paul, Lil Yachty, Ben Phillips among others as well as highlighting the controversy surrounding the SafeMoon CEO suing his own mother. [12]

FTX

Findeisen additionally was active during the bankruptcy of FTX, interviewing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on three occasions and describing Bankman-Fried's responses during the last interview as an admission of fraud. In light of his involvement with investigating FTX in particular, The Washington Post credited Findeisen as one of the most powerful independent news sources when it comes to the cryptocurrency industry. [13] [14]

CryptoZoo

In December 2022, Findeisen published a three-part series on NFT-based game CryptoZoo, a project Logan Paul developed and founded. [15] He criticized the project for not delivering on its promises and alleged that the team engaged in market manipulation. [16] In a now-deleted video, Paul responded to the allegations, while also threatening legal action against Findeisen for defamation and claiming that Findeisen broke "criminal and civil laws" by uploading a recording of a phone call with his manager, Jeff Levin. [16] He has since withdrawn the threat. [15]

Personal life

Findeisen has been married since 2017 and lives with his wife in San Antonio, Texas. [3]

Related Research Articles

CoinDesk is a news site specializing in bitcoin and digital currencies. Founded by Shakil Khan, the firm also provides guides to bitcoin for those new to digital currencies.

Alan Joseph Bankman is an American legal scholar and psychologist. He is the Ralph M. Parsons Professor of Law and Business at Stanford Law School. He was also employed at FTX, the cryptocurrency company founded by his son, Sam Bankman-Fried, who is an MIT graduate, entrepreneur, and convicted felon. His tenure at FTX lasted until the company's bankruptcy and subsequent collapse in 2022.

A cryptocurrency bubble is a phenomenon where the market increasingly considers the going price of cryptocurrency assets to be inflated against their hypothetical value. The history of cryptocurrency has been marked by several speculative bubbles.

Binance Holdings Ltd., branded Binance, is a global company that operates the largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume of cryptocurrencies. Binance was founded in 2017 by Changpeng Zhao, a developer who had previously created high-frequency trading software. Binance was initially based in China, then moved to Japan shortly before the Chinese government restricted cryptocurrency companies. Binance subsequently left Japan for Malta and currently has no official company headquarters.

Cryptocurrency and crime describe notable examples of cybercrime related to theft of cryptocurrencies and some methods or security vulnerabilities commonly exploited. Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime specific to cryptocurrencies that have been used on websites to hijack a victim's resources and use them for hashing and mining cryptocurrency.

Decentralized finance offers financial instruments without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks by using smart contracts on a blockchain, mainly Ethereum. DeFi platforms allow people to lend or borrow funds from others, speculate on price movements on assets using derivatives, trade cryptocurrencies, insure against risks, and earn interest in savings-like accounts. DeFi uses a layered architecture and highly composable building blocks. Some applications promote high-interest rates but are subject to high risk. Coding errors and hacks have been common in DeFi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Bankman-Fried</span> American entrepreneur, convicted of fraud (born 1992)

Samuel Benjamin Bankman-Fried, or SBF, is an American entrepreneur who was convicted of fraud and related crimes in November 2023. Bankman-Fried founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and was celebrated as a "poster boy" for crypto. At the peak of his success, he was ranked the 41st-richest American in the Forbes 400.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SafeMoon</span> Cryptocurrency technology company and token

SafeMoon LLC was a cryptocurrency and blockchain company created in March 2021. The company also has a SafeMoon token (SFM) which trades on the BNB Chain blockchain. The token charges a 10% fee on transactions, with 5% redistributed to token holders and 5% directed to wallets in a different currency, Binance Coin (BNB), controlled by the coin's authors. The token reached its all time high market cap in April 2021 of $17b. As of December 2022, it has since dropped 98.7% in value to $223m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solana (blockchain platform)</span> Public blockchain platform

Solana is a blockchain platform which uses a proof-of-stake mechanism to provide smart contract functionality. Its native cryptocurrency is SOL.

FTX Trading Ltd., commonly known as FTX, is a bankrupt company that formerly operated a fraud-ridden cryptocurrency exchange and crypto hedge fund. The exchange was founded in 2019 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang. At its peak in July 2021, the company had over one million users and was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume. FTX is incorporated in Antigua and Barbuda and headquartered in the Bahamas. FTX is closely associated with FTX.US, a separate exchange available to US residents.

Alameda Research was a cryptocurrency trading firm, co-founded in September 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara Mac Aulay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Save the Kids token</span> 2021 cryptocurrency fraud incident

Save the Kids was a cryptocurrency token and pump and dump scheme launched in 2021, which was marketed as a charity token meant to give a percentage of the transaction fee to a Binance-operated charity. The token was widely publicized by YouTube personalities, including RiceGum and members of the FaZe Clan who were later removed, in the time leading up to its launch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BlockFi</span> Defunct digital asset lender

BlockFi was a digital asset lender founded by Zac Prince and Flori Marquez in 2017. It was based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was once valued at $3 billion.

Caroline Ellison is an American former business executive and quantitative trader who served as the CEO of Alameda Research, the trading firm affiliated with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and founded by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. In 2022, she pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges related to her role at Alameda Research.

The bankruptcy of FTX, a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange, began in November 2022. The collapse of FTX, caused by a spike in customer withdrawals that exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX’s accounts, served as the impetus for its bankruptcy. Prior to its collapse, FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume and had over one million users.

Gary Wang is an American computer programmer who co-founded the crypto currency exchange FTX with Sam Bankman-Fried. At the height his success in 2022, Wang was ranked the 227th richest American in the Forbes 400, and the 431st richest person in the world by The World's Billionaires. After FTX collapsed into bankruptcy, caused by massive fraud perpetrated by Wang and a few others, Wang plea bargained a guilty charge in exchange for testifying against his former college roommate and business partner, Bankman-Fried. Before co-founding FTX, Wang worked at Google Flights, building systems for the aggregation of ticket prices.

<i>Number Go Up</i> 2023 non-fiction book by Zeke Faux

Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall is a 2023 book by investigative journalist Zeke Faux which takes a critical look at the world of cryptocurrency. The book discusses crypto-related topics including Sam Bankman-Fried and the 2022 collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Razzlekhan, and pig butchering scams.

<i>Going Infinite</i> 2023 book by Michael Lewis and Sam Bankman-Fried

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon is a 2023 book by Michael Lewis about Sam Bankman-Fried, a fraudster who founded the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The book's publication date, October 3, 2023, coincided with the beginning of Bankman-Fried's trial on seven counts of fraud and money laundering. On November 2, 2023, in the case of United States v. Bankman-Fried, Bankman-Fried was convicted of all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.

<i>United States v. Bankman-Fried</i> 2023 trial of FTX founder

United States of America v. Samuel Bankman-Fried was a 2023 federal criminal trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Financial entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly known as SBF, was convicted on seven charges of fraud and conspiracy following the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November 2022.

<i>Storybook Brawl</i> 2021 auto battler video game

Storybook Brawl was an auto battler video game developed by American studio Good Luck Games. Development began in 2020, and the game was released in early access for Windows in June 2021. The game and studio were acquired by cryptocurrency exchange FTX in March 2022 to develop non-fungible token integrations, a move that faced player backlash. Servers were shut down in May 2023 in the wake of the bankruptcy of FTX.

References

  1. 1 2 "About Coffeezilla". YouTube.
  2. ↑ "Influencers outshine traditional media on coverage of FTX implosion". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Morgan, Chris (April 30, 2022). "Coffeezilla – The YouTuber Who Exposes Fake Gurus and Crypto Scams". techiegamers.com. Techie + Gamers. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Monroe, Rachel (May 14, 2022). "Coffeezilla, the YouTuber Exposing Crypto Scams". The New Yorker . Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  5. ↑ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (April 14, 2022). "Meet the Blockchain Detectives Who Track Crypto's Hackers and Scammers". Vice . Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  6. ↑ "This YouTuber has built his career calling out crypto scams". CNN . June 23, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  7. ↑ Alford, Aaron (March 7, 2022). "CoffeeZilla reveals Jake Paul's alleged crypto scams amid SafeMoon lawsuit". Inven Global. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  8. ↑ Gach, Ethan (July 14, 2022). "Former Faze Clan Guy Pressures YouTubers To Pull Scam Vids With Millions of Views". Kotaku . Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  9. ↑ "StackPath". esports-news.co.uk. July 14, 2021. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  10. ↑ "What Happened to SafeMoon, the Hyped-Up Crypto That Promised Riches?". May 9, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Cooli Carlito x HALO – StrikeX". Genius.
  12. ↑ Lex Vest LTD v. Emanations Communications Group LC, 2:22-cv-01226 (D. Nev.2022).
  13. ↑ "Coffeezilla claims FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried admitted "fraud" in interview". Dexerto. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Influencers outshine traditional media on coverage of FTX implosion". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  15. 1 2 Brandt, Oliver (January 8, 2023). "Logan Paul's massive backflip after Coffeezilla 'scam' report". news.com.au. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  16. 1 2 Haylock, Zoë (January 6, 2023). "Logan Paul SBF'd Up". Vulture. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.