Shark Bình Exposes Startup Coin Scams: Projects Raise $3–5M, Then Go Rogue, Leaving Investors Broke While Founders Legally Profit

In a video shared on his personal page during the Go Global 2025 Conference organized by the 2030 Entrepreneurs Club, Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh, Chairman of NextTech Group, discussed fintech, blockchain, and cryptocurrency.

Mr. Binh candidly acknowledged his own “painful” experiences since 2017. As a seasoned practitioner, he advised small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): “Don’t get too caught up in it.”

He explained that the government is preparing legal frameworks to recognize digital assets, a positive step. Previously, many international platforms invited Vietnamese participants to “play” on their platforms. This “play” didn’t create much real value, and Vietnam didn’t collect any taxes, while foreign platforms profited. The government’s move to establish domestic platforms for regulation and taxation is a necessary step.

According to Shark Binh, startups issuing coins to raise capital are essentially “raising funds before taking action.” They issue coins, collect millions of dollars, and then often “go rogue,” with many projects failing or abandoning their efforts. “99% of coin projects fail, investors lose money, and project leaders profit legally,” he stated.

In 2021, Shark Nguyen Hoa Binh invested $2.5 million in the cryptocurrency project AntEx (ANTEX token) through the Next100Blockchain fund. He also served as a strategic advisor for the project.

AntEx was promoted as a comprehensive DeFi ecosystem, featuring the stablecoin VNDT pegged to the Vietnamese Dong. However, the ANTEX token quickly lost 99% of its value. The project’s website and social media presence disappeared, and Shark Binh stopped mentioning it by late 2021. In March 2023, the project rebranded to Rabbit (RAB) at a rate of 1,000 ANTEX = 1 RAB, but RAB also dropped 95% from its peak, rendering its converted value nearly zero.

Also in 2021, NextTech Group and the $50 million Next100 Blockchain Fund partnered with V2B Labs (V2B). Under the agreement, V2B, leveraging its blockchain expertise, would incubate blockchain startup projects. NextTech and the Next100 Blockchain Fund would provide investment and long-term strategic development consulting for promising blockchain projects developed by V2B.

Shortly after, NextTech Group and the Next100 Blockchain Fund invested in the Dragon Land NFT game project supported by V2B Labs. However, Shark Binh has not mentioned this project since.

According to ChainPlay’s analysis of 3,279 projects in late 2024, the average lifespan of a GameFi project is only about 4 months, with 93% classified as “dead” – meaning their tokens lost over 90% of their peak value and daily active users dropped below 100.