In Pebble Beach, California, Jia Yueting once again stood in the spotlight. But this time, his PPT did not feature car renderings; instead, it was filled with financial concepts such as crypto indices, treasury plans, and ETF licenses. This entrepreneur, who once proclaimed "suffocating for dreams," announced the launch of the "EAI + Crypto Dual Flywheel Strategy" under the predicament of Faraday Future (FF) delivering only a few dozen cars after eleven years of car manufacturing. One side aims to inject "soul" into cars through embodied intelligence (EAI), while the other plans to manage a treasury of crypto assets worth tens of billions of dollars.
As the audience was still digesting these terms, Wall Street had already cast its vote with its feet: FF's stock price surged 400% from its low this year, showcasing a familiar polarized reaction to this controversial figure's new narrative—some see disruptive innovation, while many see a familiar "I'll return to China next week" style of capital storytelling replay.
In FF's strategic blueprint, the C10 index and C10 treasury form the core engine of the crypto flywheel. This index claims to be "the first crypto asset portfolio index initiated by a U.S. publicly listed company," tracking the top ten cryptocurrencies (excluding stablecoins) such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, designed with a benchmark of 1000 points, comparable to the traditional financial S&P 500.
The C10 treasury plan supporting the index reveals even more aggressive capital ambitions. It adopts an "80% passive + 20% active" allocation model: 80% of the assets strictly track the C10 index, while 20% are dynamically adjusted by humans among the top ten market cap cryptocurrencies. According to the plan, FF will independently operate this business through a newly established wholly-owned subsidiary, FAAI Crypto Treasury and Bridging Holdings Inc., achieving comprehensive legal and financial risk isolation from the automotive sector.
The brilliance of this design lies in its "self-circulating" revenue mechanism:
FF predicts the annualized interest rate for industry custodians to be 3%-5%. If the treasury reaches a scale of $1 billion, annual revenue could reach $30 million to $50 million.
Revenue distribution follows the "three-three-three" principle: 1/3 reinvested into the automotive business, 1/3 reinvested into crypto assets, and 1/3 used for stock buybacks.
However, the glamorous model cannot hide the fatal cracks. The initial allocation of $500 million to $1 billion is still unconfirmed, and FF has only committed to starting a $30 million initial investment "after obtaining the necessary funds." For a company that reported only $300,000 in revenue and an operating loss of $43.8 million in a single quarter, this is akin to pie in the sky. More concerning is that as the SEC has issued a Wells Notice to Jia Yueting (indicating a possible lawsuit), this high-profile foray into regulatory gray areas feels like dancing on the edge of a cliff.
The strong skepticism surrounding Jia Yueting's crypto gamble stems from his inescapable "criminal record." The "ecological revolution" strategy during the LeEco era once swept the capital market with a similar logic—by weaving a closed-loop story of "hardware + content + finance," it ultimately left behind a debt abyss of billions. When creditors besieged the building, Jia Yueting went to the U.S. on a "temporary business trip" and never returned, making "I'll return to China next week" a classic joke in the Chinese internet.
The overlap of historical trajectories is unsettling:
Financing model iteration: LeEco relied on equity pledges and related party transactions for blood transfusions, while FF tokenizes 10,000 undelivered vehicle orders through RWA (real-world assets), using "car sale commitments" to exchange for USDT financing.
Concept packaging upgrade: "Ecological revolution" has transformed into "dual flywheel," but the core remains story-driven financing, financing that sustains the story.
Regulatory risks intensify: The SEC's investigation into related party transactions is still ongoing, compounded by new compliance landmines in crypto assets.
The crypto community is well aware of this. In discussions at Gate Square, user "PriceOracleFairy" bluntly asked, "When will the cars be delivered? I think this is just more of a Ponzi scheme," while "RektHunter" succinctly summarized, "The funding scheme is here." These doubts point directly to the Achilles' heel of Jia Yueting's strategy: when the foundation of credit has already crumbled, who will foot the bill for the billion-dollar treasury dream?
As Jia Yueting envisioned the crypto treasury on his PPT, the desolation of the Hanford factory in California formed a cruel contrast. Since deliveries began in 2023, fewer than 30 units of the flagship model FF91, priced at $300,000, have been delivered. This "workshop-style" output led to an absurd comparison in the Q1 2025 financial report: $300,000 in revenue vs. $43.8 million in operating losses.
To break the deadlock, FF will launch a second brand, Faraday X (FX), in 2024, focusing on a value proposition of "twice the performance at half the price." After its first MPV model, Super One, debuted in July this year, it claimed to have received 10,034 small orders (with a deposit of $100) within an hour, along with 4,100 paid orders from B-end clients. Large orders from business clients like New York car dealer JC Auto and Southern California real estate company Pinnacle Real Estate were packaged as proof of a successful strategic transformation.
Delivery capability remains a sword of Damocles. FF91's history of missed deadlines has left the market skeptical about the real conversion of FX orders. More critically, as FF shifts resources toward crypto business, the already fragile supply chain may face further shocks. Although the collaboration with Great Wall Motors has been touted as the "implementation of the China-U.S. bridge strategy," the details of the partnership remain vague—Is it technology licensing? Contract manufacturing? Or yet another "PPT alliance"?
Under the catalysis of the crypto bull market, Jia Yueting's "dual flywheel" strategy is essentially a high-risk gamble:
If the crypto market continues its long bull run: Treasury appreciation could mask car manufacturing losses, pledge income could fund production, rising stock prices could attract new financing, creating a "paper prosperity" closed loop.
If the crypto market turns bearish: Asset shrinkage could exacerbate financial crises, triggering creditor runs, and the SEC investigation could worsen the situation, potentially leading to the company's collapse.
This design exposes FF's strategic dilemma—while Tesla defines the future of smart cars with FSD and Rivian focuses on off-road electrification, FF chooses to package "embodied intelligence" with LED expression screens and replace solid delivery with a crypto treasury. When California State Treasurer Fiona Ma stands for the strategy, it is hard to discern whether this is an endorsement of innovation or a tacit approval of yet another capital game.
Eight years ago, Jia Yueting left behind a statement of "I will take responsibility to the end" during the LeEco crisis and flew to the U.S. Now, as the blueprint for the C10 treasury is unveiled in Pebble Beach, this "debtor entrepreneur" attempts to reconstruct the trust system with a crypto narrative. The question is: when Faraday Future's factory remains desolate and over 10,000 orders are yet to be fulfilled, is that billion-dollar "crypto treasury" an innovative engine for corporate self-rescue or yet another meticulously designed capital escape pod?
Blockchain will not remember the promises of missed deadlines, but the capital market will ultimately vote with real money. For Jia Yueting, time is scarcer than any crypto asset—when the countdown for the first $30 million crypto allocation begins, whether the production line at the Hanford factory can operate in sync will determine whether this gamble is a disruptive "ecological revolution 2.0" or the resurrection of LeEco's ghost in the crypto world.
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