Loud scandal: Binance and TRON founders jointly expose the CoinUp scam
The crypto community was shaken by a high-profile story surrounding the CoinUp platform, which experts and users unanimously call a financial pyramid scheme. At the center of the scandal is the platform's operator, a man named Zhu Pan, a figure with a long and highly dubious reputation on the Chinese crypto scene. However, the story gained real resonance after Binance co-founder Yi He and TRON founder Justin Sun publicly came forward with revelations.
Yi He stated on her X social media account that Zhu Pan systematically impersonated other people, including herself, in order to mislead Justin Sun. Moreover, according to her, the fraudster used artificial intelligence technologies to generate fake correspondence on behalf of representatives of influential Chinese and Hong Kong clans, and also created a fake WeChat account for Binance founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ).
Zhu Pan's Dark Past and the Collapse of CoinUp
Zhu Pan has been known in the community since 2017. His first major scam was related to the startup ZJLT, which raised an impressive 25,000 ETH. After the project's founders left, Zhu Pan joined the team, and soon around 15,000 ETH disappeared without a trace. The token's price crashed by over 90%, and investors seeking justice were met by aggressive security guards in black at the company's office.
The CoinUp exchange opened in September 2021 in Silicon Valley, was registered in the Cayman Islands, and headquartered in Singapore. However, the platform operated without the necessary licenses. In August 2025, a sudden collapse occurred: first, the withdrawal option was blocked, and then user balances were reset to zero. According to available data, around 230,000 people were affected, and the total volume of deposits and withdrawals exceeded 20 million USDT. The funds were quickly transferred to accounts on major exchanges, including Binance.
Justin Sun promptly confirmed Yi He's information and called on industry participants to unite in the fight against such fraudsters. He insists on bringing those responsible to legal justice.
Analyst's comment: This incident is a stark reminder that even in 2025, the crypto market remains a field for sophisticated fraudulent schemes. The use of AI to create fake personas and forged correspondence takes phishing and social engineering to a new level. The community needs to develop stricter verification protocols to protect investors from such "shadow" operators as Zhu Pan.