On-chain transactions and a circulating letter attributed to Jeffy Yu suggest the Zerebro co-founder may have staged his suicide as part of a planned exit from the crypto industry.
Rumors started circulating on May 4 that Zerebro (ZEREBRO) co-founder Jeffy Yu had committed a suicide during a livestream on the memecoin launch platform Pump.fun. A video that appeared to show Yu smoking a cigarette and then shooting himself in the neck spread rapidly on crypto X. While some were skeptical, many believed it to be genuine — especially after Yu’s obituary was published two days later on the memorial platform Legacy.
However, mounting evidence now suggests the reports of his death may have been fabricated. First, the Legacy obituary is no longer available.
More tellingly, on-chain data shows that multiple transactions tied to Yu’s wallet were executed after his alleged death. According to Lookonchain, a wallet likely tied to Yu sold 35.55 million ZEREBRO tokens for 8,572 SOL (approximately $1.27 million), and subsequently transferred 7,100 SOL (around $1.06 million) to the development wallet of LLJEFFY, a coin Yu launched on the day of his alleged suicide.
Blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps also reported that the LLJEFFY deployer and associated wallets were actively trading and burning tokens after Yu’ alleged death. One wallet, 5Ko12, alone sold over $170,000 worth of ZEREBRO across multiple transactions.
In addition to on-chain signs, an unverified letter allegedly written by Jeffy Yu to investors is currently circulating on X. In that letter, Yu says he staged the suicide video as a deliberate act to exit the crypto space, stating:
“I created a video in which I depict myself shooting myself. My decision to create and indirectly disseminate this video was deliberate. In my perspective, this was my only viable exit from persistent harassment, blackmail, and threats.”
He also explains that leaving publicly without triggering further backlash and doxxing was impossible:
“Had I stepped away openly, I would have tanked the price of ZEREBRO and OPAIUM projects when my departure became imminent. This would have resulted in even more intense targeting, which was previously evidenced when out token price >90% in January, causing a massive increase in resentment towards me as a developer.”
Meanwhile, ZEREBRO and OPAIUM tokens have both tanked 20% in the past 24 hours, while the new coin LLJEFFY is up over 100% over the same period and 24% in the past hour alone.
