The $430 million presale project BlockDAG was exposed by ZachXBT: CEO suspected of being a "paid spokesperson".

The Blockchain project BlockDAG is facing a significant Crisis of Confidence, claiming to have raised $430 million. Prominent on-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed that the publicly announced CEO Antony Turner may just be a “paid spokesperson,” while the true co-founder behind the project is a British entrepreneur named Gurhan Kiziloz, who has been linked to previous failed and fraudulent encryption and fintech projects. With the pre-sale dragging on for an extended period, the lack of transparency in the audit report, and the controversial history of the behind-the-scenes founder being exposed, the legitimacy of the BlockDAG project is being questioned like never before.

On-chain Investigator Exposes: BlockDAG Behind-the-Scenes Mystery

According to Cryptonews, the controversy began with a promotional message posted by the official X account of BlockDAG, in which CEO Antony Turner announced that the project would enter the “VALUE ERA” and urged investors to make their “final purchases.” Subsequently, ZachXBT, known for exposing crypto scams, publicly countered, directly pointing out that BlockDAG was engaging in deceptive practices.

The core allegations revealed by ZachXBT include:

1. “Paid Mask”: He claims that the so-called CEO Antony Turner is just a paid facade, and the real co-founder is Gurhan Kiziloz.
2. Capital Flow: ZachXBT accuses Kiziloz of secretly manipulating BlockDAG and transferring millions of dollars in retail presale funds through Middle Eastern OTC brokers.
3. Information Blocking: Following the allegations made by ZachXBT, BlockDAG took action to block its X account and hide replies. Additionally, Gurhan Kiziloz's name is banned from being mentioned in BlockDAG's Telegram group, and any messages containing that name will be automatically deleted or restricted by users.

Long Delays in Pre-Sales and Doubts About Audits: Legitimacy of the Project Questioned

The BlockDAG project claims to combine DAG ( directed acyclic graph ) technology with Proof-of-Work mining to achieve higher scalability. However, the opacity and inconsistency of the project's operations are raising strong public concerns about the legitimacy of the project.

• Unlimited delay of pre-sale: The pre-sale originally scheduled to end in June has been postponed to August and is now indefinitely delayed. Although the project claims to have raised over $430 million since the beginning of 2024, the mainnet has not yet launched, and listing on any mainstream CEX has not been confirmed.
• Misleading Marketing: BlockDAG announced in July that the presale would end on August 11 at a price of $0.0016, calling it the “last chance.” However, months later, the tokens are still being sold at a lower price, and the presale continues. Critics argue that this may be to keep generating hype and attract new investors while evading the responsibility of a public launch.
• Audit Report Vulnerability: The BlockDAG website claims that the project has been audited by Halborn and CertiK. However, it has been reported that these two companies only reviewed the token allocation contract and did not audit the mainnet itself, which has deepened the community's concerns due to the limited scope of the audit.

The project's white paper outlines its ambitious technical goals, including a processing capacity of 10,000 transactions per second and a decentralized application launch platform that is EVM-compatible.

In addition, the token distribution plan is detailed: 50% is allocated to miners, 33.3% to presale participants, and only 1% to the team. The team has promoted its “path to enter the leading CEXs,” but no official exchange partnerships have been confirmed yet.

User feedback on Trustpilot also reflects a growing sense of skepticism, with nearly 60% of users giving negative reviews, mainly focused on repeated publishing delays and inconsistent team communication. These signs raise concerns about whether BlockDAG resembles more of a high-yield investment scheme rather than a genuine blockchain innovation project.

The “Troubled” History of Behind-the-Scenes Player Gurhan Kiziloz

Gurhan Kiziloz's past experiences have cast a greater shadow over the reputation of BlockDAG. This self-proclaimed tech entrepreneur has been involved in several controversial incidents:

• Lanistar Financial Technology: Kiziloz founded the financial technology startup Lanistar. The company received a regulatory warning from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2020, accusing it of operating without authorization. Although the warning was later withdrawn, the company still faces allegations of mismanagement, wage arrears, false reviews, and a toxic work environment.
• Big Eyes Coin (BIG): Kiziloz also participated in the Big Eyes Coin project, which is a Memecoin that raised over $40 million in 2023, but quickly collapsed shortly after its launch. Investors accused the team of misleading marketing, lack of transparency, and failing to deliver the purchased tokens.

Kiziloz currently also leads Nexus International Holdings, which operates online casino brands like Spartans(.)com under its umbrella. While these businesses have generated substantial revenue, their controversial history in the fintech and encryption sectors raises deep concerns about their behind-the-scenes role in BlockDAG and issues of investor protection.

Conclusion

The $430 million presale figure claimed by BlockDAG starkly contrasts with the scandal exposed by ZachXBT, which poses significant challenges to the project's credibility and transparency. The indefinite extension of the presale, the limited scope of audits, and the controversial history of behind-the-scenes founder Gurhan Kiziloz all send clear risk warnings to potential investors. For the cryptocurrency industry, this serves as a reminder of the importance of conducting thorough due diligence and being wary of “paid facades” when pursuing high-return presale projects.