Zerebro Co-Founder Jeffy Yu May Have Faked Death

Mounting on-chain evidence and a circulating letter suggest that Jeffy Yu, co-founder of crypto project Zerebro, may have faked his suicide as part of a dramatic exit from the cryptocurrency industry.

The controversy erupted on May 4 when a video began circulating on social media platform X, reportedly showing Yu taking his own life during a livestream on the memecoin launchpad Pump.fun. The clip appeared to depict Yu calmly smoking a cigarette before seemingly shooting himself in the neck. The shocking footage quickly went viral, and further fueled belief in its authenticity after Yu’s obituary appeared on the memorial website Legacy two days later.

However, serious doubts about the legitimacy of Yu's death have emerged. The obituary has since been removed from Legacy, and blockchain investigators have found evidence of significant wallet activity linked to Yu following the time of his reported death.

Blockchain data firm Lookonchain revealed that a wallet believed to belong to Yu offloaded 35.55 million ZEREBRO tokens for approximately 8,572 SOL, worth around $1.27 million. Of that, roughly $1.06 million in SOL was sent to the development wallet of LLJEFFY, a token launched by Yu on the same day as his alleged suicide.

Further activity was noted by analytics platform Bubblemaps, which identified token trading and burning operations from wallets tied to the LLJEFFY deployer. One wallet in particular offloaded over $170,000 in ZEREBRO across several transactions, raising further suspicion.

Adding to the intrigue is a letter now circulating online, allegedly written by Yu. In the unverified message addressed to investors, Yu admits to staging the suicide as a response to what he described as relentless harassment, blackmail, and threats. "This was my only viable exit," the letter states, asserting that a public withdrawal would have triggered a sharp crash in the price of ZEREBRO and OPAIUM tokens, exposing him to even greater backlash.

The letter also references a prior market collapse in January, when token values plunged by over 90%, which Yu claims fueled resentment and personal attacks.

While Yu's whereabouts remain unknown and the authenticity of the letter is unconfirmed, the market response has been dramatic. ZEREBRO and OPAIUM tokens have both dropped 20% in the past 24 hours, while LLJEFFY, the coin associated with Yu’s suspected post-“death” activity, has surged more than 100% over the same period.

The unfolding saga has left the crypto community divided between outrage and speculation, as users question whether the apparent suicide was a desperate escape or a calculated manipulation of sentiment and markets.