$150M Crypto Ponzi Exposed as DSJ Collapse Freezes $41.5M

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$150M Crypto Ponzi Crumbles: $41.5M Frozen In DSJ Exchange Collapse

As a researcher following crypto activity, I’ve been investigating a significant Ponzi scheme that recently collapsed. ZachXBT, a well-known on-chain investigator, has uncovered details showing the scheme defrauded victims of over $150 million before its downfall last week.

The Mechanics Behind The $150M Crypto Ponzi

ZachXBT recently revealed details of a Ponzi scheme that has been running since 2025, involving the fake trading platform DSJ Exchange (DSJEX) and the fraudulent investment scheme BG Wealth Sharing. The scam was led by a person using the name Stephen Beard, who falsely presented himself as a professor and CEO of the platform.

Online discussions on Tuesday revealed that DSJEX and BG Wealth were promoting daily returns ranging from 1.3% to 2.6%, and also offered bonuses for referrals and achieving certain ranks. Furthermore, an individual named Beard encouraged new member recruitment and shared misleading trading advice within a BonChat group – a messaging app popular in Hong Kong.

Washington State’s financial regulators recently stated that investors using trading signals on the DSJ exchange were misled into thinking their cryptocurrency investments were profitable.

BG Wealth and DSJ stated they were authorized by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, the DFI’s investigation revealed that their paperwork showed no evidence of SEC registration.

Fraud warnings about these firms have been issued by regulators in thirteen different countries across five continents. These include major financial authorities like the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Australia’s ASIC, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines, and Washington’s Department of Financial Institutions (DFI).

On April 23rd, US authorities took control of a website used by BG Wealth during an operation involving Operation Level Up and the Scam Center Strike Force. Despite this, the scam continued running for about a week afterwards.

Last Saturday, Beard announced in a video that DSJEX would soon become a publicly traded company. He also requested a 12% “tax” on all account balances, claiming it was necessary for the legal process. However, users had already been blocked from withdrawing their funds at this point.

Tether, Exchanges Freeze $41.5M

Following intervention by US authorities, the criminals moved more than $92 million in cryptocurrency across different blockchains. ZachXBT observed that the scammers frequently changed their website addresses and quickly moved funds between accounts to avoid being caught by law enforcement.

From April 27th to May 3rd, criminals disguised the origin of cryptocurrency funds by using a series of complex transactions. These included exchanging tokens, moving funds between different networks using services like Bridgers, Butter Network, and USDT0, converting USDD back and forth, and combining many transactions across numerous digital addresses to obscure the money trail.

Using careful timing analysis, a crypto investigator tracked millions of dollars as they moved from their source, identifying deposits on Binance using both Solana and Tron. They also discovered corresponding withdrawals on the Tron network. This information was then shared with key stakeholders, including Tether, Binance’s security team, OKX, and US law enforcement officials.

I’ve been tracking the recent asset freezes, and it looks like Tether took action on May 4th, freezing $38.4 million. When you add in the $3.1 million frozen across other crypto platforms and exchanges, the total amount currently frozen comes to $41.5 million.

Although a substantial amount of money has been recovered, the researcher tracking the scam believes the total losses are probably much greater than the estimated $150 million. This is because the scam has been running since 2025, and they’ve found evidence of withdrawals from many different victims.

He recommended that anyone affected by the DSJEX and BG Wealth scheme file a police report locally. This will help with international investigations and could potentially lead to recovering stolen funds.

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2026-05-06 09:59