Unveiling the $50 Million Token OTC Trading Eyewash

A large-scale OTC Trading involving multiple well-known cryptocurrencies ( OTC ) eyecatch has recently been exposed, with the victim Tokens covering dozens of types including SUI, NEAR, Axelar, SEI, and more. It is estimated that this scam has defrauded investors of over 50 million dollars in just a few months, with victims including venture capitalists, opinion leaders, and large cryptocurrency holders. Below is a detailed account of the process of this scam:

Phase One: Establish Trust(2024 November - January 2025)

Starting from November 2024, multiple investment groups began to launch seemingly legitimate top-tier OTC Trading in instant messaging groups. These trades claim to sell well-known project Tokens at a discount price of half the market price, such as Graph(GRT), Aptos(APT), SEI, SWELL, etc., and promise a locking period of 4-5 months.

This is the bait stage of the eyewash. The initial trades are fulfilled as promised, and investors receive tokens as agreed. This apparent legitimacy quickly establishes trust, attracting more investors to join and increase their investments.

Phase Two: Scale Expansion(2025 February - June)

By February 2025, the scope of OTC Trading has rapidly expanded. A new round of trading has emerged, with larger scales and more varieties of Tokens, including SUI, NEAR, GRASS, Axelar, and others. The trading structure remains unchanged: significant discounts and fixed lock-up periods. These enticing conditions further attracted investors, enhancing the credibility of the eyewash.

Stage Three: Ignoring Warnings ( May 2025 )

In May 2025, eyewash began to show vulnerabilities. Industry leaders issued public warnings one after another. Eman Abio, a member of the SUI team, reminded users on social platforms to beware of fake OTC Trading, clearly stating: "There is no such trading at all!" Lucian Mincu from MultiversX also issued a similar warning.

However, despite these warnings, the community continues to ignore the warning signs. Attracted by past investment returns, success stories, and seemingly credible group participation, investors continue to flock to new trading.

Phase Four: Eyewash Revelation and Collapse ( June 2025 )

The turning point occurred on June 1st. The last known transaction was launched, involving Fluid Token. At the same time, the distribution of tokens from early OTC Trading suddenly halted. Investors seeking updates received only vague excuses, such as travel delays, exchange issues, and so on.

On June 19, the investment group Aza Ventures, which led these transactions, publicly announced that they also became victims of an eyewash. Aza Ventures accused its main trader "Source 1" of operating a Ponzi scheme. According to Aza, the early trades were legitimate, but the later trades completely relied on new investors' funds to fulfill previous promises—typical of a Ponzi scheme model.

Worse still, Aza Ventures disclosed that their other trading sources "Source 2" and "Source 3" actually obtained trades through "Source 1". The situation quickly deteriorated and became extremely chaotic.

Involved Token

Early trading ( from November 2024 to January 2025 ) involves tokens such as Aptos, Sei, Swell, Coti, Kava, Fluid, OG, and Aethir.

Later trading ( from February to June 2025 ) involves various tokens such as SUI, NEAR, Aptos, Sei, Highstreet, Altlayer, Kava, Grass, Movement, Bio, Sandbox, Graph, Ronin, Axelar, Celestia, LayerZero, Renzo, Beam, Conflux, Wormhole, Arkham, Adventure Gold, Immutable, Vana, Berachain, Virtuals, EGLD, Fluid.

Mastermind Identity

Aza Ventures claims to have identified "Source 1". According to internal sources, the suspect may be of Indian nationality and is reportedly the founder of a certain listed project. Aza Ventures has not publicly disclosed their identity but is privately pressuring for the return of the stolen funds.

Loss and Impact

The total loss from this eyewash is expected to exceed 50 million USD. Many investors invested more than 1 million USD in a single transaction. Victims include individual investors, large cryptocurrency holders, project teams, and venture capital institutions. Some victims have suffered significant financial losses and even experienced serious emotional problems.

Follow-up Actions

Aza Ventures claims to be actively negotiating with "Source 1" to recover funds, setting the end of the month as a deadline. Meanwhile, the broader crypto community is working to track related wallet addresses, identify accomplices, and gather more evidence to hold the responsible parties accountable.

This incident serves as a wake-up call for the crypto industry, reminding people of the huge risks involved in engaging in unregulated OTC Trading through informal channels. Despite earlier warnings, trust, greed, and social "proof" have become powerful weapons for scammers. Currently, the entire community is watching closely, hoping for justice to be served and that victims will ultimately receive compensation.