Jeff Yu, who faked his death, stayed at his parents' house and complained about being doxxed

By George Kelly

Compiler: Deep Tide TechFlow

Caption: Jeffy Yu, courtesy of The Standard

On the occasion of his 23rd birthday, Jeffy Yu "seemed" ended his life on Sunday via a live video.

An obituary was followed by a glowing obituary, calling the aspiring crypto upstart "a visionary artist, technologist and cultural force" who had "been a tech genius since childhood." At the same time, a memecoin under the name Yu was also put on sale.

However, in the days that followed, cyber sleuths questioned the authenticity of the video. The obituary then disappeared.

No matter what kind of deception game is playing behind the scenes, it all came to an abrupt end when The Standard found Yu on Wednesday. At the time, he was nestled up at his parents' home in the Crocker-Amazon district.

Standing outside the two-story house, the so-called gifted tech developer looked anxious and shocked as he was pinned out by some regular internet search.

"I'm doxxed, I'm being harassed. If you can find me, others will find me," he said. "Now I have to get my parents out of here within this week."

Yu is the developer of Zerebro, an unpopular cryptocurrency token with a market cap of $44 million. (By comparison, Bitcoin has a market cap of $2 trillion.) Zerebro only became known after Yu "seemed" shot himself during a live stream via the cryptocurrency platform pump.fun.

While the full video is no longer available, some footage is still circulating. His obituary, which once called him a "martyr of imagination and creativity," has also disappeared from Legacy.com website.

The obituary reads: "His life was short, but he was full of passion, talent, and dedication to creation, which he hoped would always inspire others." ”

Whether other details of Jeffy Yu's life are credible are still unclear. He studied computer science at Stanford University and also attended Northeastern University and Arizona State University, according to the online memorial article. He reportedly works full-time as a software engineer in Santa Cruz, while his LinkedIn profile shows the same message.

Dressed in a T-shirt, shorts, flip-flops and thin-rimmed glasses, Yu refused to talk about false reports about his fake death and the financial benefits he might have gained from it.

He just said, "You can see post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in my eyes, right?" The reporter was then asked to leave.

While the obituary trumpeted his alleged success, the more striking "self-tribute" was his launch of a memecoin on Sunday.

The cryptocurrency, which is being promoted as an "automated message" on his social media accounts, is called $LLJEFFY, which reads: "If you're reading this message, it's because my 72-hour Deadman's Switch has been triggered, so I'm gone, at least physically." He described the new coin as "my last work of art" and "an eternal graveyard in cyberspace."

As the incident fermented, suspicions quickly surfaced, with industry insiders, including Daniele Sestagalli, the CEO of cryptocurrency platform Wonderland, claiming that Yu faked his death. Sestagalli also released a private letter purportedly written by Yu, in which he mentioned that "suicide is the only viable way out of my continued harassment, blackmail, and threats" and that he must "completely and permanently disengage." However, Sestagalli was not available for an interview.

According to on-chain analytics data shared on social media by crypto analytics platform Bubblemaps, accounts linked to Yu transferred up to $1.4 million in crypto after his "death." Many accounts accuse Yu of orchestrating an elaborate "pseudocide exit strategy" to cash out his holdings.

Before he "faked his death", Yu had issued a manifesto introducing a concept called "legacoins". This token is described as "an evolved form of a digital asset (commonly referred to as a meme coin)" that functions like a "vault or storage device for securing and preserving value indefinitely."

New information about Yu is still emerging. Earlier on Thursday, X (formerly Twitter) account, named @eiuge74698713, announced that it would be hosting "a unique blockchain funeral event" for Yu.

"He is a true blockchain believer and builder who has stood by his beliefs in life even in the face of death," the account said. He deserves to be honored in a unique blockchain way. ”

If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts, call or text "988" to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline around the clock, or chat online for help.