Influencer
CoffeeZilla: A Look At The YouTube Creator Decoding Crypto Scams
Jumping into investigative journalism generates some of the most binge-worthy content that there is on the internet. Whether you enjoy true crime, sports, financial or political investigative stories, getting sucked into a rabbit hole is something we all have experienced at some point in our life. One of the most recent journalists to captivate and take the internet by storm is none other than Coffeezilla.
His expose of various scams such as “Established Titles”, Logan Paul’s Crypto Zoo, and the FTX scandal with owner SBF, was perfectly executed and is the reason his channel has blown up in recent months.
With all the big names and subsequent drama that has followed them, it’s easy to see how he’s risen in popularity and been able to grow his channel at such a rapid rate. So let’s take a closer look into the investigative mind of Coffeezilla.
Who is CoffeeZilla?
One of the biggest questions you may be asking is, “Who is Cofeezilla?”, and you’re completely within your right to do so. The man known as “Coffeezilla” is actually named Stephen Findeisen, and is a graduate of Texas A&M with a degree in chemical engineering.
From 2017 to 2020 Stephen had another YouTube channel called Coffee Break that he would regularly upload to. It wasn’t until he started Coffeezilla and switched gears into decentralized finance, web3, and cryptocurrency scams that he would see an uptick in viewers and subscribers reflect on his channel.
Focusing mainly on investigative journalism and reports, he would see a significant rising in following and as he would proceed to lean into bigger and better investigations. Just like any good superhero, Coffeezilla has an origin/back story that motivated him to do what he is currently doing today.
Back when his mother was diagnosed with cancer she turned to alternative methods and products to help her recover. This left Stephen in a difficult spot because he would ultimately have to prove to her that what she was doing wasn’t working and that the people who were selling these various methods and products were scamming her out of money while giving her false hope and promises. She would eventually recover from cancer after going through surgery, but this experience would leave Stephen feeling more hungry than ever to continue to expose people who preyed on others with the same tactics they had used on his mother.
The majority of his first few videos followed very typical SEO-style topics that would appeal to the masses without needing a set niche, such as “Corporate Jargon – Lying by Obscurity”, which is a far cry from what he uploads today. It wasn’t until he began to go in on “Money Gurus” that he became more interesting, and his following began to reflect that.
What is CoffeeZilla’s Reach On Youtube?
Nowadays, with more people in the crypto and finance landscape, there are more and more scams out there becoming increasingly more elaborate. While some people want to watch these things to laugh at others, there are a big group of people that watch to see justice be served or to educate themselves on how not to get scammed in the future.
The Coffeezilla channel has well over 2 million subscribers, which has allowed Stephen to focus on quality content creation full-time. This is a necessity in this niche because he’s able to focus on all the smaller details and extract information for his videos without having the distraction of his 9 to 5 job.
His move to full-time Youtuber has allowed him to provide viewers and subscribers with the in-depth research we are all accustomed to while getting more videos released at a higher upload rate, which is important in crypto and decentralized finance because the spaces move very quickly.
In his videos he takes the side of no one, trying to be as unbiased as possible while presenting facts and information on said topic. The content is authentic and presented in a way that allows the viewer to act as the “jury”, come to their own conclusion and ultimately decide whether or not they think the characters are guilty.
To look further into how he presents information and gets people interested in his content, let’s take a closer look at a few of his most notable investigations.
Save the Kid’s token
The big uptick didn’t take place until he started his investigation into “Save The Kids Token”, which was a cryptocurrency that was conducting business as a sort of “pump and dump” scheme. The juicy part of this elaborate scheme was that it involved someone who was a part of the FaZe Clan by the name of Frazier Khattri along with the infamous Big Brother star and YouTube prankster Sam Pepper.
With big noteworthy names like those, his channel began taking off when word started to pick up about the potential wrongdoing these two masterminds had conjured up.
The video garnered a response from Fraizer’s lawyer in the form of a cease and desist letter that was asking Stephen to retract his statement about his client’s involvement. This would get an iconic quote from Stephen as he referred to the Cease and Desist letter as “Absolut Toilet Paper”.
SafeMoon
Then there was SafeMoon, the cool crypto project that received a lot of hype due to its “tokenomics”. Findeisen would go on to make the claim that the CEO of Safemoon, John Karony had been stealing funds from the liquidity pool which had a negative impact on the token’s price.
CoffeeZilla found evidence that someone from the team was moving funds from the projects liquidity wallet and transferring over 36.7 trillion tokens to a separate wallet named “Gabe (6abe) wallet”
The only person who responded to the claims was SafeMoon’s CTO Thomas “Papa” Smith, who was later dismissed by the company after the airing of another video by CoffeZilla.
Findeisen went on to cover the pump and dump scheme in depth, also discussing the involvement of various high-profile celebrities and influencers such as Logan Paul, and Soulja Boy.
FTX
His next big hit would be the FTX drama with Sam Bankman-Fried, who he would conduct an interview with and record while getting him to admit to fraud.
Stephen went on to interview Sam Bankman-Fried on 3 separate occasions. SBF admitted to fraud in their last interview video.
The Washington Post praised Stephen’s investigative journalism and named him as one of the go-to independent media sources within the cryptocurrency niche.
CryptoZoo
Findeisen published a video series in December 2022 on the NFT project CryptoZoo. This project was founded by none other than popular influencer Logan Paul.
Findeisen went on to criticize CryptoZoo for not delivering on their roadmap and made claims that the entire team was manipulating the market for self-gain.
Logan Paul responded by threatening legal action on the basis of defamation – this post has now been deleted and Paul has apparently withdrawn the threat.
Additional Content
In addition to the series we’ve mentioned above, Stephen also created content that was tied to ongoing scandals such as the SEC vs. Tron case.
Conclusion
Who knows what the future holds for Stephen Findeisen – but one thing is for certain – his investigative journalism and Youtube career isn’t going to slow anytime soon.
Coffezilla’s commitment to journalistic integrity paired with his deep concern for people being taken advantage of in the cryptocurrency space is a match made in heaven and a much-needed voice of reason in the industry.
It’s interesting to see the response that Coffezilla’s content receives. From CTOs being dismissed, to CEOs admitting to fraud live on air – there’s never a dull moment.
If you’re interested in learning more about crypto pump-and-dump schemes, and other financial, NFT, and web3-based issues then make sure to check out his Youtube channel. You can find Coffezilla on the following platforms:
