Someone burned $1.3M in ethereum to warn about 'brain-computer weapons'

There's never a dull day in the worlds of crypto, security, and neuroscience. A mysterious new story has been caught by blockchain analysts, initiating a series of conspiracy theories.

They found a message in Chinese on the ethereum (ETH) blockchain, which, according to an automatic translation, says: "The CEOs of Kuande Investment: Feng Xin and Xu Yuzhi used brain-computer weapons to persecute all company employees and former employees, and even they themselves were controlled."

According to analysts at the blockchain intelligence platform Arkham, the ETH address appears to be controlled by "Hu Lezhi," who presents themselves as an "ordinary programmer and entrepreneur."

He enclosed a message in Chinese: “The CEOs of Kuande Investment: Feng Xin and Xu Yuzhi used brain-computer weapons to persecute all company employees and former employees, and even they themselves were controlled.”

The address appears to be controlled by “Hu Lezhi” who claims… pic.twitter.com/nKesPIDBv3

undefined Arkham (@arkham) February 17, 2025

Hu Lezhi says that since October 2022, they realized that they have been "monitored and manipulated by the mind control organization since I was born." The messenger of the warning also claims that once they discovered they were being controlled, "they also increased their harm on me," and that Hu Lezhi has been "very painful in the past two years." The person then ends the message by saying that they "decided to leave this world."

However, while the internet has seen its share of the strangest stories and conspiracy theories, this one literally has its monetary price. To send the message, Hu Lezhi sent $1.3 million worth of ETH to a so-called burn address – an address from which it is impossible to retrieve crypto assets – effectively destroying the ETH. Moreover, according to Arkham, in total, this week, the address has sent $4.95 million to the burn address, Wikileaks, and the Ethereum Foundation.

Additionally, $825,000 in ETH was sent to the Coinbase crypto exchange, while another $273,000 in ETH was transferred to a fresh address.

In either case, the story has left the crypto industry perplexed. While some commenters suggest that this is "a mentally ill employee" who "decided to damage a fund," others have more theories.

"Neuralink is pretty far into brain-chip technology… does it really seem that crazy that China could be further along with this tech than America is?" an X user, Scott, reacted, referring to a project by Elon Musk, which has already performed its first brain chip implant on a human.

Meanwhile, in another transaction, Hu Lezhi wrote that (automatic translation) "Brain-computer chips have been deployed militarily on a large scale. All military powers are using base stations, radios, and nano-brain-computer chips to control all citizens."

To make the story even juicier, other commenters dove into internet archives and found this report:

That said, as we don't have power over your minds, you're all free to draw your own conclusions from this curious story.