$2.5 million deal and the collapse of AntEx cryptocurrency project
Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh (Shark Binh) - Chairman of NextTech Group - is the focus of the investment community, especially after the upheavals related to the AntEx cryptocurrency project - a name that "made waves" during the boom of the crypto market in 2021.
In 2021, Shark Binh announced an investment of 2.5 million USD in the AntEx blockchain project through the Next100Blockchain fund, and also held the role of strategic consultant. AntEx is introduced as a DeFi (deFi) financial ecosystem with the ambition of developing stablecoin VNDT, attracting the attention of the domestic investment community even though at that time, cryptocurrency assets had no legal basis in Vietnam.
However, after a short time, token AntEx plummeted, losing up to 99% of its value, the project's website and social networking channels respectively stopped operating. In March 2023, the project changed its name to Rabbit (RAB) but the newotes continued to fall sharply, losing about 95% of their value compared to the peak, and then almost disappeared from the market.
Shark Binh's notable statements
The project then almost disappeared and was no longer mentioned by the investment community. On September 24, 2025, Shark Binh suddenly mentioned this project on his personal page. He said that many startups issue coin only to raise capital early: They launch coin, collect 3-5 million USD, and then start to fail. Most of the projects have not been implemented or have failed. 99% of coin falls into this situation: investors lose money, while project owners take legal profits".
He admitted that he had "hit" himself when participating in coin investment and clarified: "Previously, I invested in the AntEx digital asset issuance project. However, the technology team has committed wrongdoings and then disappeared, causing investors and consultants like me to take credit.
According to him, re-sharing the story is to help the community stay vigilant, avoid losing money and affecting his reputation as he has experienced. In a livestream on September 26 with the theme "Crypt assets - Opportunities and risks", Shark Binh continued to express his opinion that blockchain has not brought much practical value, but is like a "game" created by major countries.
This warning immediately caused controversy because he had previously invested in AntEx. In addition to this project, Shark Binh and the Next100Blockchain fund are also participating in a number of other blockchain projects such as V2B Labs' NFT Dragon Land game, but most of them have stopped operating early - as ChainPlay's late 2024 report said, 93% of GameFi projects lost more than 90% of their token value in just four months.
The armed war is not over
After Shark Binh's statement, an anonymous account claiming to be the former technology director of AntEx spoke up to accuse him of being the one controlling the project. This person believes that Shark Binh's $2.5 million investment helped him hold the "wallet key", send NextTech's person to manage cash flow and direct the sale of the token when it reached its peak to make a profit, not to suffer losses as claimed.
Shark Binh responded, arguing that this was a one-sided accusation, asserting that he had not only lost 2.5 million USD but also suffered a serious reputational impact. He identified the person behind the allegations as LVL (aka LL) - a former technical employee who was once assisted by him and was later assigned the position of Technical Director (CTO) of AntEx, holding all the blockchain keys, codes and wallets.
According to Shark Binh, this person person person committed the acts of "backdoor to dev's account warehouse, rug-pull "buy" to investors, causing the project to collapse". He said that other shareholders lacked technical knowledge and were taken advantage, while he himself "was betrayed and then disappeared". Shareholders have collected evidence and worked with authorities but encountered difficulties because crypto has not been recognized by law, data is deleted and there is high anonymousness.
After the complaint appeared, Shark Binh posted two posts in response on the account with blueprints, affirming his goal of "pulling up the bettors in the dark that has made me famous for the past few years" to the light, even challenging the accuser and livestreaming to face it.
The dispute between the two sides has not ended. At a press conference organized by the Ministry of Public Security on the afternoon of October 6, Colonel Nguyen Duc Long - Deputy Director of Hanoi City Police - informed about the receipt and handling of complaints related to Mr. Nguyen Hoa Binh and the AntEx virtual currency project. Immediately after the information appeared, the Investigation Police Agency of Hanoi City Police directed professional units to verify, collect documents and clarify signs of violations (if any).
