Stephen Findeisen (born 1993 or 1994),[2][3] better known as Coffeezilla, is an American YouTuber and cryptocurrency journalist who is known primarily for his channel in which he investigates and discusses online scams, usually surrounding cryptocurrency, decentralized finance and internet celebrities.[4] Before Coffeezilla, Findeisen was active on YouTube with the channel Coffee Break between 2017 and 2020.
Before his YouTube career, he sold houses for a local builder.[7] Findeisen was motivated to hunt down scams after his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer, was persuaded to buy questionable products with the belief that they would help cure her.[6] His mother would later end up recovering after surgery.[8] He began his career as a YouTuber by uploading videos in which he makes allegations about influencers and financial commentators.[6][9]
In October 2024 Andrew Tate was sent a series of questions by Coffeezilla about his meme coin DADDY. In response, Tate doxxed Coffeezilla by leaking his email address and encouraged his supporters to email abusive content to Coffeezilla, specifically requesting that they call him "gay."[10]
Style
Findeisen generally records his videos in front of a green screen; his backgrounds feature elaborate computer graphics, and he inserts animated graphics to illustrate his content, including a recurring character of a robot bartender called Maxwell.[6]
He gained international recognition after making a series of videos that investigated Save the Kids token, a cryptocurrency widely seen as a pump and dump scheme. He claimed that former FaZe Clan member Frazier Khattri (FaZe Kay) collaborated with YouTube prankster Sam Pepper. In response, Khattri's lawyers threatened to sue Findeisen in a cease and desist letter unless he retracted his statements, but Findeisen called the cease and desist letter "absolute toilet paper".[11][12]
In April 2022, Findeisen accused the SafeMoon team of misappropriating millions of dollars.[13] According to Findeisen, Safemoon CEO John Karony had been removing funds from the liquidity pool which is the primary explanation for the crypto's price pattern. Findeisen found evidence of transactions that showed SafeMoon's liquidity wallet moving funds to a wallet dubbed the "Gabe (6abe) wallet" which withdrew funds to a separate company run by Karony. Former SafeMoon CTO Thomas "Papa" Smith was the only person who responded to Findeisen's claims stating that funds were taken from the "locked liquidity pool" before Karony's appointment. He sent Smith evidence of this in the form of a blockchain transaction showing an outflow of 36.7 trillion tokens from the liquidity pool, dated March 5, 2021.[6] Former SafeMoon CTO, Thomas Smith, who had a role as a blockchain advisor for StrikeX, was dismissed by the company after the fraud allegations uncovered by Findeisen.[14] Coffeezilla has made multiple other reports on SafeMoon, including the pump and dump scheme against many influencers including Soulja Boy, Logan Paul, Lil Yachty, Ben Phillips among others as well as highlighting the controversy surrounding the SafeMoon CEO suing his own mother.[15]
FTX
Findeisen additionally was active during the bankruptcy of FTX, interviewing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) on three occasions and describing Bankman-Fried's responses during the last interview as an admission of fraud. In light of his involvement with investigating FTX in particular, The Washington Post credited Findeisen as one of the most powerful independent news sources when it comes to the cryptocurrency industry.[16][4]
SBF was arrested in The Bahamas in December 12 2022 and convicted of wire fraud and conspiracy in the United States v. Bankman-Fried trial for crimes directly related to FTX. Then, on March 28, 2024, SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[17]
In December 2022, Findeisen published a three-part series on NFT-based game CryptoZoo, a project Logan Paul developed and founded.[18] He criticized the project for not delivering on its promises and alleged that the team engaged in market manipulation.[19] In a now-deleted video, Paul responded to the allegations, while also threatening legal action against Findeisen for defamation and claiming that Findeisen broke "criminal and civil laws" by uploading a recording of a phone call with his manager, Jeff Levin.[19] He withdrew the threat in January 2023.[18]
On June 27, 2024, Paul filed a lawsuit for defamation against Findeisen, along with his company, Coffee Break Productions, alleging that Findeisen had spread false information about Paul's connection with CryptoZoo.[20] In August 2024, Findeisen responded in a video asserting that the lawsuit is a strategic move to block investigations into Liquid Marketplace, a company co-owned by Paul, which has been accused by Canadian authorities of "multi-layered fraud".[21]
MrBeast
In November 2024, Findeisen published a video investigating the cryptocurrency activity of Jimmy Donaldson (MrBeast). The investigation tracked his acquisition of various NFTs from different collections. He was investigated on allegations of insider trading from the sale of the crypto-coins: Polychain Monsters and STACK using information provided by his business partner KSI.[22][23]
The investigation was done in collaboration with blockchain experts, who tracked potential wallets belonging to Donaldson.[24]
CSGO Gambling
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) is a multiplayer first-person shooter videogame developed by Valve Corporation. While skin gambling is against Steam's terms of service, there have been cases of people promoting CSGO skin gambling websites such as in 2016, when two YouTubers were criticized for the practise.[25]
In December 2024, Findeisen published a three-part web series outlining an investigation into the CSGO gambling industry. He alleges that CSGOEmpire, an online casino, offered him a $20,000 bounty to expose a rival site, CSGORoll and investigate HypeDrop, a Danish online casino owned by CSGORoll. The first video showcases a direct action protest against CSGORoll, funded by CSGOEmpire at the PGL Major Copenhagen 2024, a CS2 esports tournament.[26][27] Findseisen then alleges that Monarch, the owner of CSGOEmpire hired people to harass influencers who promoted their rival. For example, notices were distributed in Halden, Norway denouncing Sebastian Gjerlaugsen (who is from there) for promoting gambling.[28][29][30]
His second video explores the CSGO gambling industry as a whole. Findeisen alleges that minors were easily able to access these casinos without requiring sufficient verification. then explores the roles of online influencers in promoting such websites. He then discusses HypeDrop, a website where one can purchase loot boxes. Findeisen alleges that HypeDrop enacted a program, offering free daily crates to customers, to convince the Danish Gambling Authority that they were not a gambling site. Monarch also accused them of running a Ponzi scheme. The site was closed on April 26, 2024.
In his third video, Findeisen accuses and holds Valve responsible for enabling such gambling schemes, and failing to proactively crack down on these sites without public pressure.[29][31]
Personal life
Findeisen has been married since 2017 and lives with his wife in Houston, Texas.[5]
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