Coffeezilla

Last updated

Coffeezilla
Coffeezilla (cropped).jpg
Findeisen in December 2022
YouTube information
Also known asvoidzilla, Coffee Break
Channel
Years active2018–present
Genre(s)Commentary, finance
Subscribers4.13 million [1]
Total views510 million [1]
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg100,000 subscribers
YouTube Gold Play Button 2.svg1,000,000 subscribers
Last updated: January 10, 2025

Stephen Findeisen (born August 20 1985 ), [2] [3] better known as Coffeezilla, is an American YouTuber and cryptocurrency journalist who is known primarily for his channel in which he investigates and discusses online scams, usually surrounding cryptocurrency, decentralized finance and internet celebrities. [4] 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. [5] [6]

Career

Before his YouTube career, he sold houses for a local builder. [7] 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. [6] His mother would later end up recovering after surgery. [8] He began his career as a YouTuber by uploading videos in which he makes allegations about influencers and financial commentators. [6] [9]

In October 2024 Andrew Tate was sent a series of questions by Coffeezilla about his meme coin DADDY. In response, Tate doxxed Coffeezilla by leaking his email address and encouraged his supporters to email abusive content to Coffeezilla, specifically requesting that they call him "gay." [10]

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 called Maxwell. [6]

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". [11] [12]

SafeMoon

In April 2022, Findeisen accused the SafeMoon team of misappropriating millions of dollars. [13] 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. [6] 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. [14] 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. [15]

FTX

Findeisen additionally was active during the bankruptcy of FTX, interviewing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) 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. [16] [4]

SBF was arrested in The Bahamas in December 12 2022 and convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy in the United States v. Bankman-Fried trial for crimes directly related to FTX. Then, on March 28, 2024, SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison. [17]

CryptoZoo

In December 2022, Findeisen published a three-part series on NFT-based game CryptoZoo, a project Logan Paul developed and founded. [18] He criticized the project for not delivering on its promises and alleged that the team engaged in market manipulation. [19] 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. [19] He withdrew the threat in January 2023. [18]

On June 27, 2024, Paul filed a lawsuit for defamation against Findeisen, along with his company, Coffee Break Productions, complaining that Findeisen had spread false information about Paul's connection with CryptoZoo. [20] In August 2024, Findeisen responded in a video asserting that the lawsuit is a strategic move to block investigations into Liquid Marketplace, a company co-owned by Paul, which has been accused by Canadian authorities of "multi-layered fraud". [21]

MrBeast

In November 2024, Findeisen published a video investigating the cryptocurrency activity of Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast). The investigation tracked his acquisition of various NFTs from different collections. He was investigated on allegations of insider trading from the sale of the crypto-coins: Polychain Monsters and STACK using information provided by his business partner KSI. [22] [23]

The investigation was done in collaboration with blockchain experts, who tracked potential wallets belonging to Donaldson. [24]

CSGO & CS2 Gambling

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) and after 2023 Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) are multiplayer first-person shooter videogames developed by Valve Corporation. While skin gambling is against Steam's terms of service, there have been cases of people promoting CSGO skin gambling websites such as in 2016, when two YouTubers were criticized for the practise. [25]

In December 2024, Findeisen published a three-part web series outlining an investigation into the CS2 gambling industry. He alleges that CSGOEmpire, an online casino, offered him a $20,000 bounty to expose a rival site, CSGORoll and investigate HypeDrop, a Danish online casino owned by CSGORoll. The first video showcases a direct action protest against CSGORoll, funded by CSGOEmpire at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, a CS2 esports tournament. [26] [27] Findseisen then alleges that Monarch, the owner of CSGOEmpire hired people to harass influencers who promoted their rival. For example, notices were distributed in Halden, Norway denouncing Sebastian Gjerlaugsen (who is from there) for promoting gambling. [28] [29] [30]

His second video explores the CSGO and CS2 gambling industry as a whole. Findeisen alleges that minors were easily able to access these casinos without requiring sufficient verification. then explores the roles of online influencers in promoting such websites. He then discusses HypeDrop, a website where one can purchase loot boxes. Findeisen alleges that HypeDrop enacted a program, offering free daily crates to customers, to convince the Danish Gambling Authority that they were not a gambling site. Monarch also accused them of running a Ponzi scheme. The site was closed on April 26, 2024.

In his third video, Findeisen accuses and holds Valve responsible for enabling such gambling schemes, and failing to proactively crack down on these sites without public pressure. [29] [31]

Personal life

Findeisen has been married since 2017 and lives with his wife in Houston, Texas. [5]

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References

  1. 1 2 "About Coffeezilla". YouTube.
  2. ↑ Monroe, Rachel (May 14, 2022). "Coffeezilla, the YouTuber Exposing Crypto Scams". The New Yorker. ISSN   0028-792X.
  3. ↑ Klee, Miles (April 30, 2023). "Meet the YouTube Creator Busting Crypto Scams". Rolling Stone.
  4. 1 2 Lorenz, Taylor (January 5, 2023). "Influencers outshine traditional media on coverage of FTX implosion". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on January 5, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Morgan, Chris (April 30, 2022). "Coffeezilla – The YouTuber Who Exposes Fake Gurus and Crypto Scams". techiegamers.com. Techie + Gamers. Archived from the original on July 23, 2023. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Monroe, Rachel (May 14, 2022). "Coffeezilla, the YouTuber Exposing Crypto Scams". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on December 13, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  7. ↑ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (April 14, 2022). "Meet the Blockchain Detectives Who Track Crypto's Hackers and Scammers". Vice . Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  8. ↑ "This YouTuber has built his career calling out crypto scams". CNN . June 23, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  9. ↑ Alford, Aaron (March 7, 2022). "CoffeeZilla reveals Jake Paul's alleged crypto scams amid SafeMoon lawsuit". Inven Global. Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved January 6, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Andrew Tate's 'War Room' harasses Coffeezilla over shitcoin enquiry". protos.com. Archived from the original on November 10, 2024. Retrieved November 6, 2024.
  11. ↑ Gach, Ethan (July 14, 2022). "Former Faze Clan Guy Pressures YouTubers To Pull Scam Vids With Millions of Views". Kotaku . Archived from the original on December 27, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  12. ↑ Sacco, Dom (July 14, 2021). "Frazier Kay to sue Coffeezilla over Save the Kids crypto investigation". Esports New UK. Archived from the original on October 15, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  13. ↑ Franceschi-Bicchierai, Lorenzo (May 9, 2022). "What Happened to SafeMoon, the Hyped-Up Crypto That Promised Riches?". Vice . Archived from the original on January 1, 2023. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  14. ↑ "Cooli Carlito x HALO – StrikeX". Genius.
  15. ↑ Lex Vest LTD v. Emanations Communications Group LC, 2:22-cv-01226 (D. Nev.2022), archived from the original.
  16. ↑ Amos, Andrew. "Coffeezilla claims FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried admitted "fraud" in interview". Dexerto. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Office of Public Affairs | Samuel Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years for His Orchestration of Multiple Fraudulent Schemes | United States Department of Justice". www.justice.gov. March 28, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  18. 1 2 Brandt, Oliver (January 8, 2023). "Logan Paul's massive backflip after Coffeezilla 'scam' report". news.com.au. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
  19. 1 2 Haylock, Zoë (January 6, 2023). "Logan Paul SBF'd Up". Vulture. Archived from the original on January 6, 2023. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
  20. ↑ Fisher, Carver (June 27, 2024). "Logan Paul sues Coffeezilla for defamation over CryptoZoo 'scam' accusations". Dexerto. Archived from the original on June 29, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2024.
  21. ↑ Shaukat, Rahman (August 6, 2024). "Coffeezilla Issues Response to Logan Paul's CryptoZoo Defamation Lawsuit". Game Rant. Archived from the original on August 6, 2024. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  22. ↑ "MrBeast Looked Into by Crypto Scam Investigator Coffeezil..." Complex. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Coffeezilla slams MrBeast's alleged crypto scandals: 'It's horrible'". Dexerto. November 15, 2024. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  24. ↑ "MrBeast Investigation". loock.io. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  25. ↑ "YouTube gamers caught in gambling row". BBC News. July 5, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  26. ↑ "Protestors storm CS2 major stage taking aim at 'scam casinos'". SiegeGG (in Italian). June 30, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  27. ↑ "Coffeezilla releases part one of exposé on CSGOEmpire, shady world of CS2 gambling". Dust2.us. December 19, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  28. ↑ Ulekleiv, Gunnar Paulsen, Hans Kristian Stensrud, Morten (October 13, 2023). "(+) Haldenser beskyldes for millionsvindel: – Jeg avviser på det sterkeste". Halden Arbeiderblad (in Norwegian). Retrieved December 29, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. 1 2 Jessica, Gabriela (December 27, 2024). "YouTuber Coffeezilla Unveils Dark Secret of CS: GO Underage Online Gambling Problem". The Nerd Stash. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  30. ↑ Kumar, Satyam (December 19, 2024). "Coffeezilla Exposes Counter-Strike Gambling Scandal". TalkEsport. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
  31. ↑ "Coffeezilla Calls Out Valve in Latest CS:GO Gambling Expose". Esports Illustrated On SI. December 27, 2024. Retrieved December 29, 2024.
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