The way Shark Binh promoted AntEx caused 30,000 investors to "fall into the trap"

(Dan Tri) - Shark Binh once heavily promoted the AntEx cryptocurrency project, introducing it as a "made in Vietnam" decentralized financial platform with a long-term vision. However, many investors later lost everything.

The AntEx cryptocurrency project, which was once widely promoted in the NextTech ecosystem, has now become the center of attention after Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) and 9 other defendants were prosecuted and temporarily detained.

The AntEx cryptocurrency project launched in November 2021, introduced as a "made in Vietnam" decentralized financial ecosystem (DeFi), with the ambition to build an exchange, e-wallet and especially a stablecoin VNDT "anchored" to the value of Vietnamese Dong.

VNDT is also introduced by Ngan Luong - a payment intermediary unit in the NextTech ecosystem with a commitment to convert at a rate of 1 VNDT = 1 VND, helping to increase the project's reliability in the eyes of investors.

Amid the cryptocurrency fever, the appearance of Shark Binh as an investment advisor and the commitment to invest 2.5 million USD through the Next100 Blockchain fund has made AntEx stand out and trustworthy.

Many small investors put their trust in the prestige and reputation of the tech "shark", who has attracted attention with a series of deals on Shark Tank Vietnam since 2019.

He affirmed that he only invested in and supported a Vietnamese DeFi project with a long-term and substantial vision, and did not pump money to help anyone close a profit or promise profits to any investor.

Shark Binh continuously promoted the AntEx cryptocurrency project in November 2021 (Photo: Screenshot).

When AntEx went public, Shark Binh shared many posts on his personal Facebook page: "There was a time when Seed round investors had x35 accounts, Private round x27, Pre-sale round x20, Public round x14, all in less than 3 months. First of all, congratulations to the early AntEx token investors because they all have great profit potential."

These numbers not only evoke excitement but also hit the FOMO (fear of missing out) psychology of small investors. Not stopping at stating the rate of return, Shark Binh also incorporated the image of the Next100 Blockchain investment fund as a "lighthouse" to help blockchain startups (startups applying blockchain technology) orient and avoid risks.

Not only Shark Binh, many leaders in the NextTech ecosystem at that time also shared information, posted promotional articles and expressed their expectations for the potential of the AntEx project built by Vietnamese people.

According to data from CoinMarketCap, just a few days after being listed on the exchange, the AntEx token reached a peak of $0.002529. However, the increase did not last long, the price quickly plummeted and evaporated 99% of its value within just a few months.

After peaking at the opening sale, AntEx token price continued to decrease (Photo: CoinDesk).

AntEx token liquidity reached more than 17 million USD on the first day of launch, but the total transaction value 24 hours later quickly plummeted, and was only about 2-3 million USD after more than a week of listing.

At that time, a wave of indignation from investors arose, accusing AntEx of signs of fraud and capital misappropriation. However, Shark Binh still defended the project, believing that AntEx would go the long way. He said that those were people who deliberately spoke ill of the project with negative intentions and affirmed that the majority of users in the AntEx and VNDT wallet community still supported the project.

After that, AntEx had almost no more activities. Shark Binh also kept quiet, stopped mentioning the project since the end of 2021. In March 2023, AntEx suddenly announced a name change to Rabbit. AntEx token holders will switch to Rabbit at a rate of 1,000 AntEx for 1 Rabbit.

In the cryptocurrency world, this move is considered a "redrawing of the chart", to erase the history of a severe price decline. However, Rabbit also quickly lost value, plummeting on the market, with its exchange value almost zero.

According to the police, in May 2021, Shark Binh and a number of other subjects with professional qualifications and knowledge of digital currencies agreed to contribute capital to invest in the AntEx digital currency project with a total amount of 5 billion VND to implement the project and according to the agreed structure (in which Mr. Binh contributed 2 billion VND).

From August to November 2021, this group sold 33.2 billion tokens to about 30,000 investors, earning 4.5 million USDT (about 117 billion VND). At the end of 2021, Mr. Binh continued to promote the project through the "Next100 Blockchain" Fund with a commitment to invest 50 million USD to strengthen investor confidence. Investigation results determined that the founding group withdrew money from 30,000 investor wallets, appropriating an exceptionally large amount of money.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/kinh-doanh/cach-shark-binh-quang-ba-antex-khien-30000-nha-dau-tu-sap-bay-20251016190152782.htm