Huang Wei-hsuan, founder of Steaker, was sued. Over 3 years, raising 1.48 billion yuan with a maximum annual interest rate of 88%, triggering a chain collapse.

Once a star entrepreneur in Taiwan’s cryptocurrency industry, Huang Wei-hsuan is now disgraced due to a judicial investigation. The Taipei District Prosecutors Office in early 2023 formally indicted Huang Wei-hsuan and three senior executives of his platform Steaker on charges of violating the Banking Act, Anti-Money Laundering Act, and other crimes, and confiscated related criminal proceeds. This case not only exposes regulatory loopholes in digital asset management but also serves as a microcosm of the trust crisis in the crypto industry in the post-FTX era.

From Industry Rising Star to Court Defendant

Currently 34 years old, Huang Wei-hsuan graduated from National Taiwan University with a degree in Computer Science. Before entering the cryptocurrency field, he had already made a name for himself. It is reported that he began trading Bitcoin and developing crypto wallets during his student years. He later held positions as a software engineer at Yahoo and Vice President of Silver Technology.

In 2019, Huang Wei-hsuan founded the digital asset management platform Steaker, claiming to help users “easily allocate virtual assets and generate on-chain income.” Within just two years, the platform’s assets exceeded $50 million USD, becoming one of the most talked-about startup stories at the time. Huang Wei-hsuan was also hailed as a pioneer in Taiwan’s crypto scene. However, all this glory quickly unraveled after the FTX bankruptcy incident at the end of 2022.

The High-Yield Trap Behind the Attractive Returns

Investigations revealed that since its inception, Steaker launched multiple investment schemes categorized by risk level into five types. The “Conservative” type offered an annual interest rate starting at 3.5%, while the “Risky Level 3” scheme boasted an annual rate as high as 88%. These figures were highly enticing to investors.

Statistics show that from 2019 to the end of 2022, Steaker attracted nearly NT$1.485 billion in funds. Investors poured large amounts of stablecoins such as USDT, USDC, BUSD, DAI, as well as mainstream cryptocurrencies like Ethereum and Bitcoin into the platform. However, these seemingly stable promised returns were built on an extremely fragile foundation.

FTX Collapse as a Domino Effect

The turning point came in November 2022. After FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States, Steaker’s funding chain immediately broke. Prosecutors verified that the platform’s user assets actually flowed into Huang Wei-hsuan’s personal FTX wallet, used for strategic trading and high-interest lending arbitrage. Even more shocking, some funds were transferred to individual coin dealers and ultimately used to pay salaries, rent, and operational expenses for Huang Wei-hsuan’s other company, Yadoke.

This cross-platform, cross-account misappropriation of funds created multiple fund flow breakpoints, cleverly concealing the whereabouts of criminal proceeds. When FTX ran into trouble, Steaker’s investment products faced large-scale withdrawal difficulties. Investors panicked and began reporting scams to authorities.

Prosecutors Indict: Illegal Fundraising Charges Confirmed

The Taipei District Prosecutors Office concluded that Huang Wei-hsuan, CTO Shu Min-jie, CMO Lu Tian-xin, and COO Pan Yi-ting, without approval from regulatory authorities, launched investment schemes with principal protection and profit guarantees, soliciting public investments, constituting illegal banking and deposit-taking operations.

In early 2023, after investigation, the Taipei prosecutors indicted Huang Wei-hsuan and three others for violating the Banking Act’s illegal deposit-taking provisions. Steaker’s parent company, Stedico, was also fined accordingly. Notably, although prosecutors found Huang Wei-hsuan and others suspected of illegal fundraising, they did not charge them with fraud. The reason is that before FTX’s bankruptcy, Steaker investors could still check their account balances and freely transfer assets, which did not meet the full criteria for fraud.

Industry Lessons and Regulatory Reflection

Huang Wei-hsuan’s case serves as a warning to the industry: high returns often conceal high risks. For investors, schemes promising 88% annual interest should raise strong caution. For regulators, balancing support for crypto innovation with systemic risk prevention has become an urgent challenge.