Jeffy Yu, co-founder of the AI and blockchain project ZEREBRO, was reportedly seen taking his own life during a livestream. But just days later, suspicious evidence began to surface, plunging the entire Web3 world into a maze of doubt, drama, and unanswered questions.
A Viral Livestream, a Sudden Obituary, and the $LLJEFFY Frenzy
On May 4, 2025, a livestream video circulated on the Pump.fun platform showing Jeffy Yu, 22, in an emotionally charged state. In the video, he declared that he would “sacrifice himself” for $LLJEFFY, a memecoin that had launched the very same day. The video ends with the sound of a gunshot and the screen fading to black.
Shortly after, an obituary appeared on Legacy.com, confirming that Jeffy Yu had passed away. The crypto community, especially followers of the Zerebro project and the concept of “Legacoin” pioneered by Jeffy – plunged into panic. The $LLJEFFY token skyrocketed, reaching a market cap of $32.17 million within hours.
At the heart of the story is the concept of a “Legacoin” – a memecoin that the founder vowed to only buy, never sell. According to Jeffy, this would create a token that is “immortal” on the blockchain, transcending even human death. $LLJEFFY was the first iteration of this model, which Jeffy described as “a digital legacy clone of myself.” Seventy percent of the total supply was burned at launch to create artificial scarcity.
Doubts Emerge: Was Jeffy Yu’s Death a Staged Exit?
Just days after the reported death of Jeffy Yu, a series of unusual details began to emerge, prompting the public to ask: Was this truly a suicide, or a staged performance designed to manipulate the market?
The first red flag came when Jeffy Yu’s obituary on Legacy.com was suddenly removed, without any official notice from his family or authorities. This fueled further skepticism as the community discovered that Legacy is a pay-to-post platform, widely criticized for its low credibility, with a Trustpilot rating of just 1.3 stars.
Meanwhile, on-chain data revealed that the wallet believed to belong to Jeffy remained active after the livestream. The wallet sold $ZEREBRO tokens, transferred USDC to the HTX exchange, and then used the funds to launch $LLJEFFY. For many investors, this was a textbook example of a pre-planned exit scam.
From a technical perspective, video analysts pointed out inconsistencies in the livestream. Viewers noticed mismatched lighting and audio, described the gunshot sound as artificial, and saw no visible signs of blood or any physical reaction. Some viewers concluded that Jeffy Yu pre-recorded the video instead of streaming it live.
Lastly, despite calling $LLJEFFY his “final work,” Jeffy Yu had scheduled the release of Zerebro’s AI album for May 30 – an action seemingly incompatible with someone presumed dead. This only deepened suspicions that Jeffy Yu and his team carefully orchestrated the entire incident as a marketing ploy.
Incredible turnaround!
Legacy. com, which posted Jeffy Yu’s ($Zerebro dev) obituary, has just removed it.
This is what the page looks like now.
Left before. Right now. pic.twitter.com/clf42xl2Ch
— Vee (@RepeatAfterVee) May 6, 2025
Psychological Warfare and a Masterful Pump-and-Dump
As of now, local police and medical examiners have not released any official confirmation. The absence of autopsy reports, hospital records, or statements from authorities has only deepened suspicions about the authenticity of the entire event.
On X, well-known crypto KOLs like Irene Zhao, Cobie, Ansem, and Hsaka voiced their doubts. Irene Zhao stated that she had contacted an internal source who confirmed that Jeffy Yu is still alive.
User @Lu77okk wrote:
“Faking your own death for a marketing stunt? That’s brutal, cold-blooded.” Others expressed outrage, saying they felt manipulated, and described the event as “blood-soaked marketing”, profiting from false sympathy.
Despite the backlash, part of the community has revered Jeffy as a “martyr” of the memecoin movement. Some even praised him as a marketing genius, someone willing to sacrifice his public image to launch the concept of Legacoin, a so-called “immortal token” on the blockchain that lives beyond its creator’s (alleged) death.
Web3’s Ethical Reckoning
Whether Jeffy Yu truly died or not, this incident delivers a powerful wake-up call to the crypto space, showing how emotion, rumors, and virality can weaponize markets through manipulation.
It also raises a deeper question about ethics in the decentralized era: If blockchain is immutable and censorship-resistant, who ensures that human behavior doesn’t become distorted by those very features?
On-chain analyst @dethective warned:
“If I wanted to manipulate the market, I’d craft a shocking story, like a paid obituary.”
The comment reflects a growing reality: the chaos, emotional volatility, and lack of verification that dominate the memecoin landscape, where the line between satire, art, and exploitation becomes increasingly blurred.
Read more: Boop Airdrop Tension: CZ Calls Out Alleged Binance Impersonation in Solana Meme Project
