MoreThread’s 470% Debut Rekindles Malgo Coin (MGD) Controversy Around Li Feng
MoreThread, marketed as China’s “first domestic GPU stock,” surged about 470% on its Sci‑Tech Innovation Board debut, driven by strong demand for high‑performance chips and reports of a valuation above ¥3 trillion and post‑IPO net profit of ¥267,000. Major investors, including Tencent and ByteDance, were reported to have seen multi‑fold gains. The IPO rally revived scrutiny of founder Li Feng’s past in crypto: in 2017 Li and Li Xiaolai launched Malgo Coin (MGD), later renamed Camel Coin, which allegedly had an inflated whitepaper, a largely fictional team and raised roughly 5,000 ETH. In 2018 OKEx founder Star accused Li Feng of borrowing 1,500 BTC and failing to repay, triggering cross‑jurisdictional legal efforts that were stymied by asset‑definition issues; a later loan under Hu Zhibin similarly defaulted. The story links MoreThread’s market frenzy to renewed investor concern about governance and personal reputations of key founders. Primary keywords: MoreThread, Li Feng, Malgo Coin, IPO surge, GPU stock. Secondary/semantic keywords: Sci‑Tech Innovation Board, valuation, token controversy, BTC, ETH, investor due diligence.
Neutral
The immediate market impact is mixed. MoreThread’s 470% IPO surge signals strong investor appetite for GPU-related stocks and may lift sentiment in semiconductor and related tech sectors (bullish for those equities). However, the resurfacing of Li Feng’s alleged crypto misconduct (Malgo Coin fundraising, unpaid BTC loans) raises governance and reputational risks that can increase due‑diligence scrutiny and contagion concerns among crypto traders. For crypto markets specifically, mentions of past controversies involving BTC and ETH (1,500 BTC, ~5,000 ETH) are unlikely to move major liquid markets materially but can affect confidence around projects associated with the individuals. Short term: heightened volatility in tokens or equities tied directly to involved parties or investors; opportunistic traders may trade on sentiment and headlines. Long term: increased emphasis on KYC, founder backgrounds and legal clarity in fundraising could dampen speculative retail flows into similarly opaque projects, improving market quality but reducing rapid, hype-driven inflows. Comparable precedents include reputational shocks from founder fraud/borrow disputes that caused localized sell‑offs and sector caution (e.g., prior exchange‑founder legal disputes). Overall, the effect on major crypto prices is limited (neutral), while sectoral and issuer‑specific risks have become more pronounced.