Just organized a party with AV actresses! Hong Kong Web3 Carnival sponsor Websea allegedly ran away 36 hours after the event.

Websea suddenly runs off, and users report that withdrawing funds is difficult, with the C2C channel closed. The platform just sponsored the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival and invited an actress to take the stage to host an erotic party, drawing accusations that it may be a planned “pulling the rug” scheme.

Cryptocurrency exchange Websea has recently been caught up in a suspected “run-off” scandal. Multiple Chinese community users on X have reported that Websea has shown signs of getting withdrawals stuck and its customer service has disappeared. At one point, the platform’s USDT quotes were also reportedly panic-sold to external markets at about half price, prompting users to question whether the platform’s liquidity has suffered a major problem. Reports say Websea is currently unable to process withdrawals normally and has shut down the C2C channel, leading to discussions in the market about the team running off. Even Laura Takizawa herself asked on Twitter: What exactly is going on with Websea?

Web3 Festival sponsor involved again, unlicensed exchange closes withdrawals

The reason this incident has drawn significant attention from the Chinese-language crypto community is not just because another small- to mid-sized exchange has reported abnormal withdrawal issues; it’s also because Websea had only recently made a high-profile appearance at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival right before things went wrong. Public information shows that Websea previously announced it would participate in the Hong Kong Web3 Festival 2026 from April 20 to 23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as a Primary Exhibition Sponsor, and promoted its booth and events on official social channels.

Even more controversial is that during the Web3 Festival, Websea hosted a late-night party titled Safe S[C]EX Night. Even from the event name, it’s clear it intentionally “eroticizes” marketing by playing on the sounds of “Safe CEX” and “sex.” Websea’s official Chinese X account promoted the event, saying, “Half is Web3, half is a heartbeat,” “Not only redefining safe trading, but also redefining Web3’s party ceiling,” and featuring segments such as “mysterious guest interactions up close.”

The event was held on the evening of April 21 at the Kerry Hotel in Hong Kong. It was packaged under the theme of “exploring safe trading,” but in reality, much of the buzz came from inviting Japanese AV actress Laura Takizawa to take the stage, as well as cooperating Chinese KOLs to hype the party topic.

In other words, even on the eve when user funds started having problems, Websea still positioned itself to the outside world through sponsorship of major Hong Kong Web3 events, erotic parties, AV actress appearances, and KOL promotion—shaping an image of a “youthful, international, traffic-driven exchange.” Community whistleblowers therefore questioned whether this Hong Kong Web3 Carnival and Safe S[C]EX Night were not merely brand marketing, but possibly the final round of user acquisition and trust harvesting before a liquidity crisis emerged for the platform.

Users report Websea exchange unable to withdraw, frequent risk-control issues

According to an X user “Lao Yu.eth” relaying reports, some fans had previously said they experienced things like “trading gets you locked after two trades” and “the principal cannot be withdrawn.” Another user, “Web3 Hot Treasure AI,” said that their remaining funds on Websea suddenly became unable to be withdrawn, and criticized, “There are too many bad actors in the coin world.” The crypto exposé account “Crypto Entertainment Reporter” then published a long investigation, labeling Websea as a “Ponzi-structure exchange,” arguing that its big show at the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival was just the last link in the entire capital chain.

The most central accusation in that investigation is that Websea’s issues are not simply a short-term liquidity crisis caused by market volatility, but instead that it already has “fund-pool” (Ponzi-like) characteristics built into its product design. The Websea App Store page shows the platform’s functions include trading, wealth management, copy trading, insurance, social features, and games, and it promotes products such as “principal-protected copy trading,” “contract insurance,” and the “Yongying Fund.”

Among them, principal-protected copy trading claims that when losses occur from copy trading, the lead trader’s margin guarantees the payout. Contract insurance is designed around “paying premiums, generating nodes, and phased airdrops.” The Yongying Fund emphasizes principal protection, increasing returns, and an ecosystem consumption mechanism.

Whistleblowers believe that when these products are combined, they essentially form a high-risk structure that maintains old promises by relying on new funds. Principal-protected copy trading and contract insurance reduce users’ perceived risk with concepts like “losses can be compensated” and “liquidations can be topped up,” encouraging users to trade more frequently. The Yongying Fund and platform token staking lock in existing capital and delay withdrawal pressure. High referral commissions and a partner system are responsible for continuously bringing in new users. Once newly added capital is no longer enough to cover old users’ withdrawal requests and return promises, the entire model may collapse.

Typical playbook of fly-by-night exchanges: using registration as a “license”

Websea’s trading volume and reserve situation have also been questioned. CoinGecko shows that Websea’s registered location is listed as the British Virgin Islands, supporting about 100 coins and more than 100 trading pairs, and its 24-hour trading volume still shows numbers at the hundreds of millions of dollars level. However, the same page clearly indicates that Websea’s exchange reserves data is currently unavailable—meaning external parties cannot see proof of reserves through CoinGecko.

After the FTX collapse, Proof of Reserves (PoR, proof of reserves) has become an important tool for centralized exchanges to demonstrate their asset status. CoinGecko also says in its explanation that if a platform’s reserve data is marked as “unavailable,” it means there is no available reserve information on CoinGecko for that platform. For a platform that claims to serve global users and provides multiple businesses such as trading, wealth management, insurance, and games, a long-term failure to provide transparent reserve information will inevitably amplify market doubts about its ability to make payments.

Regulatory compliance is also a key point of contention regarding Websea. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) website lists virtual asset trading platforms, with the purpose of informing the public of the regulatory status of relevant platforms in Hong Kong, including licensed platforms, applicants, and other lists. But based on publicly available discussions that can be checked at present, Websea is not among Hong Kong’s mainstream licensed exchanges. The Hong Kong SFC also reminds that the list is only for providing regulatory status information and does not guarantee the performance or creditworthiness of any platform.

Community investigations also point out that there is confusion in the entities and license narratives Websea discloses externally. The app store developer entity, CoinGecko registration location, early Chinese promotional materials, and the license descriptions in English materials are not consistent. Meanwhile, the qualifications the platform previously claimed—such as the U.S. MSB, Canada’s FINTRAC, and Australia’s ASIC—do not equal a complete license that directly supports operating a crypto exchange, such as the Hong Kong SFC license, Singapore MAS, Japan FSA, or the EU MiCA.

This kind of packaging that “looks like it has licenses but is mostly registration” is exactly the kind of gray-area wording commonly used by many small- to mid-sized exchanges to attract users.

Just found Laura Takizawa in Hong Kong to host a borderline erotic party—Websea precisely cashes in

Another controversy involves the lack of transparency in the team’s information. In publicly available data, the executive Websea most often shows is Herbert Sim, who is presented as the COO to the outside world and referred to in Chinese circles as the “Bitcoin Knight.” But a financial platform that claims to have a large user base and operates trading, wealth management, insurance, and GameFi should clearly disclose information about senior leadership, compliance officers, and the actual controlling persons. However, whistleblowers claim that Websea’s core leadership has long lacked complete and verifiable information, and when user assets run into problems, it is also difficult to find a clearly identifiable party to hold accountable.

The timeline of this incident is especially sensitive. Public information shows that Websea from April 20 to 23 was still conducting booth exposure and event promotion during the Hong Kong Web3 Carnival. On April 21, it held Safe S[C]EX Night. After April 24, community reports began appearing about withdrawal difficulties and rumors of USDT trading at a discount within the platform. From April 25 to 27, multiple users concentrated their reports about restrictions on withdrawals, the closure of C2C, and customer service being unreachable.

If counted from the carnival’s closing day of April 23, the time between C2C being closed and what the community later revealed is only about 36 to 96 hours. This is also why outsiders doubt that this was not a sudden audit, but may instead have been a shutdown schedule arranged in advance.

Websea’s subsequent announcements reportedly attributed the issues to “internal audits,” “early aggressive expansion,” “losses in the GameFi segment,” and “waiting to resume withdrawals in stages after strategic investment is in place.” But whistleblowers rebut these claims one by one. They argue that if Websea truly manages large numbers of user accounts, it would not align with real financial engineering for the company to complete a comprehensive audit within a short time and decide to shut down withdrawals and C2C.

As for the so-called GameFi losses, they are also said not to be caused by third-party projects, but rather by internal issues within Websea Labs’ self-incubated blockchain games such as Meta Heaven.

• This article is reprinted with permission from: 《Chain News》
• Original title: 《Just found AV actress to host a borderline erotic party! Web3 Festival sponsor Websea suspected of running off within 36 hours after the event》
• Original author: Neo