Memecoin Madness: Dev Who ‘Died’ on Livestream Caught Moving $1.5M

Key Insights

• Jeffy Yu, the 22-year-old developer of the AI-powered crypto project Zerebro has reportedly been found alive after livestreaming his own suicide
• In the now-deleted video, Yu appeared to have shot himself in the head, after smoking a cigarette.
• Just four days later on May 8, San Francisco Standard reporter George Kelly claimed to have found Yu alive outside his parents’ home.
• There have been no photos of Yu alive as of yet. However, on-chain evidence shows that Yu is still alive, and is still making withdrawals.
• Whether or not Yu intended to fake his death for profit, the fact that the stunt worked, is likely to continue the disturbing trend.

Jeffy Yu, the 22-year-old developer of the AI-powered crypto project Zerebro has reportedly been found alive.

Yu was discovered, mere days after allegedly livestreaming his own suicide on Pump.fun.

This development has sparked outrage and fresh confusion over what virality and speculative trading truly mean in the crypto space.

The Livestream That Shook Crypto

Only a few days ago on 4 May, the crypto community witnessed a disturbing video, which showed Yu taking his own life during a livestream.

In the now-deleted video, Yu appeared to have shot himself after smoking a cigarette, in what turned out to be a tragic end to a promising career at the time.

However, while the footage looked convincing enough, it lacked any clear gore.

This led many viewers to question its authenticity from the beginning.

An obituary for Yu also popped up on Legacy.com, and was even allegedly filed via the San Francisco Chronicle.

This obituary showed that Yu had died at 22 years old and included a blog post he had timed to go live, 72 hours after his “death”.

In the blog post, Yu reflected on the toxicity of internet fame, the emptiness of financial success, and the launch of Legacoin (LLJEFFY), his new memecoin.

Alive And Moving Funds

However, just four days later on May 8, San Francisco Standard reporter George Kelly claimed to have found Yu alive outside his parents’ home.

Yu was dressed casually in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops, and also refused to discuss the suicide or any profits he may have gained from the event.

Instead, he reportedly said, “You can see the PTSD in my eyes, right?” before asking the reporter to leave.

There have been no photos of Yu alive as of yet. However, on-chain evidence shows that Yu is still alive, and is still making withdrawals.

According to Bubblemaps, wallets linked to Yu have moved more than $1.5 million worth of Zerebro ($ZEREBRO) tokens after the supposed suicide.

This might have been strategic because in the hours after the livestream and obituary, LLJEFFY surged a staggering 2,115%.

This helped the memecoin to reach a market cap of nearly $105 million on speculation from Yu’s apparent suicide.

However, the hype quickly died when users noticed the deployer wallet for the project, still buying tokens despite Yu being dead.

On-chain activity shows that Yu was not only alive, he was still profiting from his staged death.

Yu’s Mental Health Claims

Yu detailed the emotional toll of his “rise to fame” in the obituary blog post.

He wrote about how success had alienated him from friends, family, and co-founders. “As soon as I got a little rich and a little famous online, everything meaningful fell apart,” he said.

He also claimed to have received death threats and blackmail, especially after his home address was doxxed.

When confronted after being spotted alive, his mention of PTSD showed that the psychological toll was real, even if the suicide wasn’t.

So far, Yu’s stunt is just one out of many other developers using tragedy to pump token prices.

Last year, one developer went as far as setting himself on fire during a livestream to promote his coin, while another faked his death after overdosing on fentanyl.

Another developer also faked a video of his own hanging, only for it to be revealed as a lie.

Pump.fun has become notorious for this kind of behaviour in memecoin projects.

Overall whether or not Yu intended to fake his death for profit, the fact that the stunt worked, is likely to continue the trend.

According to a user on X, “We should not make a lot of money on this kind of thing.”

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