On-chain detective ZachXBT has shared details of the massive crypto Ponzi scheme that took over $150 million from unsuspecting victims before collapsing last week.
The Mechanics Behind The $150M Crypto PonziAccording to the Tuesday thread, DSJEX and BG Wealth advertised daily returns of 1.3%–2.6%, with referral commissions and rank-based bonuses. In addition, Beard pushed recruitment and fake trading signals through a group on Hong Kong messaging app BonChat.
BG Wealth and DSJ claimed to be licensed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but the DFI found that neither of the forms filed by these companies indicated that they were registered with the SEC.
Thirteen regulators across five continents had issued public fraud warnings about the firms, including the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the Philippines’ SEC, and Washington’s DFI.
Last Saturday, Beard posted a video affirming that DSJEX would soon go public and demanded a 12% “tax” on account balances as a prerequisite for the regulatory process. But the scammers had already disabled withdrawals by this point.
Tether, Exchanges Freeze $41.5MBetween April 27 and May 3, the crypto funds were laundered through token swaps, bridging via Bridgers, Butter Network, and USDT0, wrapping and unwrapping USDD, and consolidation of transactions across hundreds of addresses.
The crypto sleuth traced the millions in outflows through a timing analysis, located Solana/Tron deposits to Binance, and found matching Tron withdrawals. Then, he provided details to the relevant parties, including Tether, the Binance security team, OKX, and US law enforcement.
Despite the significant recovery, the on-chain detective noted that the scam’s $150 million assessment is “likely significantly higher since the scheme has been operating since 2025, with thousands of victim exchange withdrawals identified.”
Ultimately, he advised victims of DSJEX and BG Wealth’s scheme to file a police report in their jurisdiction to aid global investigations and potential restitution from laundered proceeds.
