From entertainment star to crypto legend: Huang Licheng's ambition and journey of losses

Mentioning the name Huang Licheng, veteran crypto enthusiasts often show a complex expression—he is both the manipulative whale who harvests the leeks and the most unfortunate gambler who gets slaughtered. Recently, screenshots of his $15 million loss on Friend.tech have gone viral again, but those familiar with his background are no strangers to this. Who exactly is this “big cut” in his 50s?

From Singer to Tech Entrepreneur

Huang Licheng (Jeffrey Huang, born November 7, 1972) is an American-born Taiwanese singer, born in Huwei Township, Yunlin County, but raised in the United States. Many initially knew him because of his younger brother Huang Lixing—an actor who makes movies. But in the Web3 world, the situation has reversed; his fame now far surpasses his brother’s.

Before entering the crypto space, Huang Licheng had already been active in the entertainment industry for many years. In 1991, he became a founding member of the pop/rap group L.A. Boyz, which gained considerable attention across Asia in the 1990s, releasing 13 albums until their disbandment in 1997. Later, in 2003, he formed the hip-hop group MACHI and established a record label of the same name under Warner Music. This experience laid the foundation for the naming of his future crypto projects.

In 2015, Huang Licheng founded 17 Media (M17), a live streaming app that gradually became one of the most popular platforms in Asia. But his ambitions went far beyond that—the rise of the cryptocurrency market caught his eye.

The Glory and Collapse of Mithril (祕銀)

Huang Licheng’s real entry into the crypto scene was marked by the launch of Mithril (祕銀) in 2017. It was among the earliest projects to incentivize content creation with tokens, with innovative ideas. During the February 2018 ICO, he raised 60,000 ETH (worth about $51.6 million at the time), accounting for 30% of the total token supply.

However, good times didn’t last long. After the token was listed on centralized exchanges, 70% of the private sale tokens were unlocked in February, with the remaining 30% scheduled for full unlock over three months. By May, 89% of the circulating supply was dumped, causing a massive sell-off and price collapse. Investors were trapped, including retail traders chasing the high. Interestingly, this zombie coin remained listed on exchanges until December 2022, when it was finally delisted. When the official announcement was made, Mithril’s dormant Twitter suddenly revived, demanding the return of a deposit of 200,000 BNB, sparking community ridicule.

Formosa Financial Funding and the Mystery of Fund Evaporation

Next, Huang Licheng collaborated with several Taiwanese political and business figures to establish Formosa Financial, a company providing financial management services for blockchain firms. On the surface, he served as chief advisor, but in reality, he was the behind-the-scenes host.

The project raised funds in two rounds: in April, an angel round of 22,000 ETH; in May, a private placement of another 22,000 ETH (30% of total tokens). He brought in many high-profile investors and backing institutions. However, FMF tokens plummeted immediately after launch, first on small DEXs, then on small CEXs, with prices continuously declining.

More concerning is that less than three weeks after the ICO, 22,000 ETH in project wallets was withdrawn, much of it transferred to addresses associated with Huang Licheng. Several team members resigned. This event only came to light in 2019 through anonymous emails from investors. Due to multiple jurisdictions and the complex backgrounds of key figures, investors chose to handle it simply. This incident cast the first shadow over Huang Licheng’s resume.

Cream Finance and Security Concerns in the DeFi Era

In 2020, amid the DeFi boom, Huang Licheng keenly perceived the business opportunity. He directly forked Compound Finance and launched Cream Finance on BSC. At the time, BSC was booming, and the Fair Launch concept led many to believe Huang wouldn’t raise funds via ICO again. But reality proved otherwise.

Cream suffered three hacks in a short period, resulting in user funds loss exceeding $192 million. While there’s no direct evidence linking Huang Licheng to these hacks, seasoned DeFi players know well that many “hacking incidents” are actually inside jobs. Cream thus became one of the most controversial and dark chapters in Huang Licheng’s black history.

The Adult Content and Market Crash of SWAG

The SWAG project also originated from Huang Licheng’s 17 Media empire. Founded in August 2016, it initially focused on influencer live streaming and fan economy; by December 2017, as the platform shifted toward adult content, SWAG rebranded as Asia’s largest adult content platform.

In October 2020, Huang Licheng issued the SWAG governance token, with the marketing slogan “Providing revenue incentives for platform creators.” The most controversial decision was to list SWAG as collateral within Cream—a small, illiquid token with limited market cap being used as collateral in a DeFi protocol, which sparked widespread opposition. Unsurprisingly, the token crashed immediately upon listing, punishing all participants, and SWAG was eventually removed from Cream, fading out completely within weeks.

Cloning Projects and Riding the Hot Trends

During the DeFi boom, Huang Licheng launched a series of copycat projects to ride the hype:

• December 2020: launched MithCash, mimicking stablecoin algorithms. Its TVL soared to $1 billion in a short time before crashing.

• January 2021: Typhoon Cash claimed to be an anonymous project, but savvy insiders could see the real operators. After weeks of mining pressure, the project ended.

• August 2021: Mud Games mimicked Loot game concepts, with the team privately minting the rarest NFTs before public sale—classic dark-box operation.

• October 2021: Squid DAO, imitating OHM DAO, shut down in less than three months.

Due to the difficulty in tracking the operators’ addresses, external estimates of Huang Licheng’s profits are uncertain. But as the initiator, he must have profited. Many retail investors were slaughtered, some even repeatedly losing on multiple projects.

The NFT King and the Bored Ape Legend

Huang Licheng’s career peak came during the NFT boom. He entered early in BAYC (Bored Apes), accumulating hundreds of apes at low prices. Later, he became one of the most active promoters worldwide, gifting apes to stars like Jay Chou and Jaycee Chan, which drew entertainment industry attention to NFTs.

As celebrities like Stephen Curry, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem bought in, BAYC prices skyrocketed, making it one of the most prominent NFT assets globally. Huang Licheng was thus hailed as the “NFT Godfather,” shining brightly in the scene. When Jay Chou’s ape was stolen, major financial media reported the incident, mentioning Huang Licheng as the giver—the ape was valued at over $3 million at the time.

The Turning Point of Blur Mining

But success also brought failure. Huang Licheng’s large holdings of Bored Apes led to a disastrous experience in Blur liquidity mining.

To earn Blur tokens, he maintained a top position on the trading leaderboard for a long time. In the first season’s airdrop, he earned millions of dollars. But by the second season (February 2023), early BAYC whales started selling, dumping 71 BAYC NFTs onto him in a short period.

Subsequently, continuous NFT dumps flooded in, forcing Huang Licheng to buy the dips to maintain his mining score. By November 2023, his total NFT trading losses reached 12,563 ETH (over $25 million). In July 2024, he liquidated all Blur tokens, incurring a total loss of $3.16 million.

The Final Roll of the Dice on Friend.tech

In September 2023, social mining platform Friend.tech caused a sensation. Within a month, its daily revenue surpassed Ethereum, quickly attracting imitators.

The turning point came in May 2024. Friend.tech launched V2 and issued the platform token FRIEND, with in-platform points exchangeable for tokens. The project promised to provide 12 million FRIEND incentives to liquidity providers. The generous rewards attracted Huang Licheng, who not only bought large amounts of FRIEND but also became the biggest liquidity provider.

However, V2 did not reverse the platform’s decline. According to data providers, V2 generated only about $60,000 in protocol fees since June. Recently, the project completely rug-pulled, rendering all of Huang Licheng’s FRIEND tokens worthless because he couldn’t sell them. The loss exceeded $15 million.

How Much Assets Are Left Now

On-chain data shows that the wallet machibigbrother.eth currently holds assets worth over $8 million, with $7.6 million on the Blast chain. Just the BLAST tokens are valued at $4.7 million.

Since late July, Huang Licheng has been continuously transferring assets to exchanges to cash out, with his wallet assets dropping from $44 million to $4.5 million—essentially a major liquidation. Transfers to exchanges were still ongoing as recently as four days ago.

Interestingly, he has recently been bullish on ETH on social media. Are these transfers for margin trading with crypto as collateral? Only he knows. Overall, he probably still has substantial assets, though he has surely suffered huge losses over the past two years.

The Duality of an Ambitious Man

Looking back at Huang Licheng’s crypto career, it’s hard to define him in one sentence. He’s over 50 but still actively chasing meme coins with the younger generation—his passion is commendable. His rise in the crypto world is indeed marked by some stains, and some of his methods are hard to justify. But honestly, how many early successful figures in crypto have completely clean hands?

He is a genuine big player who invests real money. Whether it’s promoting the NFT ecosystem, catching every hot trend with clone projects, actively mining and secondary investing, or even going all-in on Friend.tech, his actions show a true belief in the industry’s narrative—one that ultimately led to him being bloodied and slaughtered.

Compared to those who hide in primary markets and profit through fundraising, exposing their funds to the risks of secondary markets, he is a real market participant, closer to the story than retail leeks. From this perspective, he has indeed contributed positively to the industry’s prosperity.

Many once-glorious OGs have quietly left this cycle. If Huang Licheng is completely disheartened by losses from Blur, BAYC, and Friend.tech, the crypto ecosystem will truly lose a lot of its fun.