An Aussie who ran a cryptocurrency empire from his Surfers Paradise high-rise house was paid $100,000-a-week wage as his empire crumbled.
Gold Coast man Bryan Seiler, who goes by the self-chosen identify Bryan Legend, has launched his fourth challenge, with three collapsed initiatives below his belt.
On-line sceptics have been vital of Mr Seiler as the worth of his crypto token has dropped by 99 per cent in only a few months and monetary auditors have sounded the alarm, however he has defended his newest challenge.
Earlier this yr he launched Safuu – a 150,000-investor-strong crypto challenge that advertises annual returns of most than 300 per cent – working out of a waterfront high-rise in Surfers Paradise.
Safuu is Mr Seiler’s fourth foray into crypto. All three of his previous initiatives collapsed.
The Safuu enterprise rests on a crypto token of the identical identify.
Not like extra fashionable cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, buyers can’t purchase a lot with Safuu. Supported by the Safuu Treasury and insured by the Safuu Insurance coverage Fund, it has no outdoors utility.
Alongside the token, the Safuu web site floats plans similar to Safuu Way of life, which might ship “life-style retail merchandise” to buyers, and Safuu Journey, an organization “aiming to get planes within the air”.
“What we have now proper now I wouldn’t say is true utility, however we nonetheless positively have utility,” Mr Seiler instructed information.com.au.
“Completely different tokens nonetheless have worth to them based mostly on what customers outline that worth as. That’s simply the free market.”
Only a few months into the challenge, Mr Seiler introduced he would start taking a $100,000-a-week wage – or $5.2 million a yr.
In the meantime, the value of Safuu fell dramatically. After peaking at $493 in March this yr, Safuu is down by greater than 99 per cent. A Safuu token is now value about 75 cents.
It’s a development mirrored by Mr Seiler’s previous initiatives. The tokens of Fitrova, Tagz Change and Intelligent DeFi all noticed comparable peaks earlier than plummeting to near-worthlessness.
Mr Seiler’s multimillion greenback wage announcement was sufficient to plant the primary seeds of doubt within the minds of some buyers.
“I’m promoting out quickly whatever the worth on the day,” one consumer wrote in Safuu’s Reddit thread. “I simply misplaced belief.”
“That is the primary occasion that’s actually wavered my belief,” one other responded.
Others defended Mr Seiler, saying “nobody ought to work with out getting paid”.
Unbiased monetary auditors together with Solidity Finance, CertiK and CoinGecko all issued warnings for Safuu. They cite Mr Seiler’s failed previous initiatives and the centralisation of the challenge, which permits the crew behind it to tug funds at any time.
Mr Seiler claimed Safuu’s dramatic fall was the results of a broader downturn within the cryptocurrency market.
“You may’t achieve success until you may have this specific amount of hate on the opposite facet, proper,” Mr Seiler mentioned.
“Should you don’t have anyone that’s making an attempt to tear you down or create negativity in any respect – which is that worry, uncertainty and doubt – it principally means you’re not doing one thing proper.”
There may be little in the way in which of authorized safety for many who lose cash investing in crypto. Australians misplaced $158 million to funding scams within the first 5 months of the yr, $113 million of which was misplaced to cryptocurrencies.
“There are some forms of (cryptocurrency) transactions that fall inside regulatory tasks, however a lot of it doesn’t,” Australian Securities & Investments Fee head of misconduct Brendan Facey instructed information.com.au.
“Train warning when new applied sciences.
“Be careful for something that seems too good to be true.”
Safuu, if profitable, could be one of many largest returns in crypto historical past.
Mr Seiler conceded he had a “enterprise failure” in his previous, however mentioned he had “learnt from that”.
“(We would like) to assist folks, to make millionaires, to become profitable,” he mentioned. “I have already got cash. I wish to be on the philanthropy facet.”
