The Guardian Australia revealed an investigation a number of months in the past right into a crypto scheme-slash-scam known as HyperVerse, a fund that used main superstar endorsements to draw hundreds of thousands of {dollars} from small buyers earlier than collapsing. Blockchain International went bust owing $58 million USD in 2021, however now there is a reasonably traditional fraudster sting within the tail: The CEO who promoted this scheme does not appear to be an actual individual.
HyperVerse was promoted by Blockchain International co-founders Sam Lee and Ryan Xu, each of whom have been referred to the Australian Securities and Investments Fee: Lee denies HyperVerse was a rip-off and disputes his founding standing, Xu has mentioned nothing. However the firm’s CEO was one Steven Reece Lewis, who appeared on the scheme’s launch in late 2021 alongside video messages supporting HyperVerse from, amongst others, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and actor Chuck Norris.
Steven Reece Lewis, based on HyperVerse, had graduated from the College of Leeds, had a grasp’s diploma from Cambridge, had offered an organization to Adobe and launched an IT start-up agency, etcetera. He’d additionally discovered time to cram-in a stint at Goldman Sachs (memorably described by Matt Taibbi as “an amazing vampire squid wrapped across the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into something that smells like cash”) earlier than apparently being headhunted by HyperVerse.
Lewis appeared within the HyperVerse launch video and you may watch him under. I invite you to contemplate whether or not this can be a Cambridge graduate and Goldman Sachs operator, or a jobbing actor who does not fairly realise what he is signed up for: word particularly the pronunciation of “HyperVerse”.
Drawback is… none of those esteemed establishments have ever heard of Steven Reece Lewis. A Guardian follow-up discovered neither the colleges, nor the businesses named, nor Corporations Home (the UK-based register of companies) had any document of somebody by that title. Adobe has by no means purchased an organization owned by somebody of that title, nor does Goldman Sachs have any document of him. His solely web presences are all linked to HyperVerse, together with an X account arrange one month earlier than HyperVerse which has subsequently gone dormant.
Of the 2 (alleged) firm founders, Xu is generally inactive whereas Lee appears to be concerned in all types of misdoings. HyperVerse is linked to a different crypto scheme of his known as HyperFund and Lee is linked to a number of different crypto funding platforms together with the unbelievably ironic “We Are All Satoshi”. It is a reference to Satoshi Nakamoto, the nom-de-plume of the founding father of Bitcoin, whose authentic thought of empowering the little man to keep away from centralised banking is a far cry from the wild west of hucksters and thieves cryptocurrency has develop into.
A “desist and chorus order” was issued to Lee in California for controlling the We Are All Satoshi rip-off, which mentioned it was a “fraudulent pyramid and Ponzi scheme”.
Final 12 months Lee briefly met Hyper buyers after the collapse grew to become apparent and inspired them to “rebuild your tree”. I am undecided anybody even wants to listen to the remainder after that.
There isn’t any quantity for the way a lot folks might have misplaced by Blockchain International: the estimates go from the tens of hundreds of thousands into the low billions. That itself says one thing basic about crypto.
And maybe it is acceptable that Steven Reece Lewis nearly disappeared on this article: In spite of everything, it appears very possible he was by no means actual to start with. No-one is aware of what’s there and, whereas all of us could also be Satoshi in spirit, nature is reasonably extra pink in tooth-and-claw.