On May 4, a clip of Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu committing suicide during a live stream spread across the internet. At the time, many viewed it as a bizarre live stream similar to the earlier Pump.Fun incident, merely another "plot" staged by meme developers for attention. However, by the afternoon of May 6, a screenshot of Jeffy Yu's obituary began circulating on social media, prompting people to connect it with the "suicide clip" from two days prior.
As interest grew, the associated meme token LLJEFFY saw its market value skyrocket, briefly surpassing $30 million. However, on the evening of the 6th, several KOLs posted to "debunk" the news, sharing a screenshot of a letter Jeffy Yu sent to an early investor. In the letter, he stated that to escape long-term harassment and threats, and to prevent the collapse of his project tokens ZEREBRO and OPAIUM, he decided to "fake his death" to extricate himself. Related reading: “22-Year-Old $800 Million AI Project Founder Commits Suicide, Leaving Behind a New Experiment?”.
The truth of the incident is still unfolding, and BlockBeats will continue to track and update developments. Below is a timeline of events:
May 7
Suspected Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu's associated address sells 35.55 million ZEREBRO, approximately $1.27 million
At 9:46 AM, according to Lookonchain monitoring, 50 minutes prior, a suspected address associated with Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu sold 35.55 million ZEREBRO, receiving 8,572 SOL, approximately $1.27 million, and then transferred 7,100 SOL ($1.06 million) to the development wallet of LLJEFFY "G5sjgj".
Wonderland founder exposes Jeffy Yu's "faked death" letter: to escape ongoing harassment and threats, he pretended to commit suicide to avoid a related token crash
At 2:05 PM, crypto KOL and Wonderland founder Daniele posted that Zerebro project developer Jeffy Yu faked his own death. Obituary websites, announcements, and tributes appeared one after another, with the entire crypto community mourning him. But now, there is solid evidence that he is still alive.
Jeffy Yu sent a detailed letter to an early investor, revealing that this was a meticulously planned "fake death exit" strategy. Jeffy Yu stated that due to ongoing harassment from a former partner, malicious exposure of personal information, and online hate, he chose to "permanently exit" by faking a death video. In the letter, he admitted that this was the "only way" to prevent the project token's price from plummeting, and mentioned that he had disabled all social media accounts, planning to focus on his music career anonymously, emphasizing that this action was not for profit and that he had informed family and friends of his safety. This incident is considered the first "fake death exit strategy" in cryptocurrency history.
Obituary platform Legacy allegedly deletes information about Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu's death
On May 7, the obituary publication site Legacy allegedly deleted the information regarding Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu's death, and the original obituary link could no longer redirect to the page.
May 6
LLJEFFY market cap briefly "spikes" to $2 million
Around 10 PM, possibly influenced by the news of Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu's "fake death," LLJEFFY's market cap briefly "spiked" to $2 million before recovering to $6 million.
Zerebro DEV Github operation records on May 6 allegedly deleted
According to screenshots from Github, the relevant operation records for Zerebro DEV on May 6 were allegedly deleted.
Wonderland founder: Jeffy Yu is not dead
At 8:40 PM, crypto KOL and Wonderland founder Daniele posted, "You guys treat the Zerebro developer (by the way, he’s not dead) as some kind of martyr to evade responsibility, it really leaves me speechless. This is the crypto world. I've been blacked out countless times, and I'm still here. Haters are part of the game. Less complaining, more doing."
Irene Zhao: Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu allegedly faked his death
At 8:19 PM, crypto KOL Irene Zhao posted, "I just asked someone in the know, and they said Jeff is faking his death."
LLJEFFY market cap briefly surpasses $30 million
Around 7:50 PM, influenced by a scheduled article from Zerebro DEV, LLJEFFY's market cap briefly surpassed $30 million.
Zerebro DEV allegedly publishes a scheduled article: the death switch has been triggered, LLJEFFY is my final artwork
Around 6:40 PM, Zerebro DEV allegedly published a scheduled article, stating: If you are reading this, it is because my 72-hour death switch has been triggered. LLJEFFY is my "final artwork," representing a concept called Legacoin—where the developer only buys and does not sell, and after death, the assets are permanently locked on-chain, symbolizing the eternal preservation of digital heritage.
Analysis: Jeffy Yu's address is still selling ZEREBRO, and the community widely questions the authenticity of his death
At 3:34 PM, crypto community user Vee stated that one of Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu's addresses (G5sjgjPdFdoz7hRa49yDobeSdqMooCmDwsCUERqLTfyr) is still "selling ZEREBRO and then sending USDC to HTX." These funds were subsequently transferred to another address owned by Jeffy Yu that created the LLJeffy token. Within hours of the news of Jeffy Yu's death, the price of ZEREBRO dropped from $0.0427 to $0.0409, but has since rebounded to $0.0428. At the end of April, the token had experienced a 300% increase, with trading volume exceeding $150 million.
Despite related reports and widely circulated videos, the only site that seems to confirm Yu's death—Legacy—has its credibility questioned. Legacy is a pay-per-publication site that has only received a 1.3-star rating on Trustpilot. According to crypto detective dethective, this has raised some suspicions.
dethective stated: "If I wanted to create a narrative, how would I do it? Think from the perspective of a scammer. If I wanted to launch a junk coin through faking my death, I would search for paid obituaries on Google." "It’s really sad that we find ourselves in a position where we have to question whether someone is really dead, so I’m just sharing the sources I found. Regardless, even if this story is true, the worst thing is to hype a token related to someone supposedly dying from mental illness due to speculation."
Obituary publication site Legacy releases obituary for Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu
Around 2:30 PM, the obituary publication site Legacy announced that Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu passed away in May 2025 at the age of 22. The obituary also stated that Jeffy was a tech enthusiast from a young age, entered Stanford University to study computer science at 15, and became a full-time software engineer in Santa Cruz at 19. Two years later, he co-founded a company and scaled it to $800 million in less than six months.
May 4
Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu's suicide live stream clip circulates online
On May 4, a clip of Zerebro co-founder Jeffy Yu committing suicide during a live stream circulated online, at which time everyone seemed to treat this act as just another bizarre live stream similar to those previously seen on Pump.Fun, merely another attention-seeking behavior by meme developers.
免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。
