Trove Markets Alleged Mastermind Doxxed in $11.5M ICO Scam

What Trove Markets Promised vs What Happened

Trove Markets emerged in late 2025 as an ambitious DeFi trading concept, positioning itself as a perpetual DEX focused on collectibles and RWAs, including tokenized items like Pokémon cards, CS:GO skins, and other niche markets that typically lack liquidity.

The pitch was compelling. Trove was marketed as a new category of perp exchange: not just crypto, but a leveraged marketplace for “everything,” with up to 10x leverage and an early narrative centered around deep ecosystem alignment.

But even before the token launch, the project triggered suspicion. The ICO timeline was aggressive, the marketing was heavily influencer-driven, and community voices began questioning whether the demand was organic or manufactured.

Trove Markets Alleged Mastermind

According to the investigator’s thread, Trove Markets Alleged Mastermind is Jin Qing Qing, a Shanghai-based individual allegedly connected to multiple domains, emails, and wallet flows linked to Trove’s fundraising and post-raise movements.

The investigation combines two things the crypto world increasingly relies on to expose “anonymous” ops:

1. On-chain tracing of ICO wallets and fund flows
2. OSINT (open-source intelligence), including domain registration records and cross-domain email usage

In the thread, @eyeonchains follows the trail from the Trove ICO multisig to secondary wallets and eventually to exchange deposits, framing it as evidence of extraction and liquidation rather than treasury management. The investigator claims that about $1.8M in ICO funds can be directly followed through this trail, including routes toward major venues like Bybit, Binance, Gate.io, LBank, and others.

While none of this constitutes legal proof on its own, the on-chain narrative is powerful because it matches what users already believe happened: Trove raised big, pivoted fast, and left the community holding the bag.

Prior Projects and Domain Trails Add to the Suspicion

Beyond wallets, the thread escalates into a deeper accusation: that this operation wasn’t random, but part of a repeatable fundraising playbook.

The OSINT component suggests that domain registration information tied to projects like Taker Protocol and Hi PoPP Official shares a footprint with the person now labeled as the Trove Markets Alleged Mastermind.

The investigator also points to patterns like:

• one email tied to dozens of domains
• connections to casino-style services
• wallet tags that appear to overlap across project ecosystems

These details don’t automatically prove criminal intent, but they increase perceived probability that Trove Markets wasn’t a failed launch it was an engineered extraction.

In the crypto world, perception often matters as much as proof, because trust is the real product.

What This Means for DeFi Fundraising in 2026

Even if the allegations remain contested, this incident reflects a structural reality: crypto fundraising is entering an accountability era.

The Trove story reinforces a growing market rule:

Projects can raise millions quickly but if transparency fails, the internet will run an investigation faster than a regulator ever could.

And as OSINT + on-chain analysis becomes mainstream, “anonymous teams” will find it increasingly difficult to escape public accountability, especially after large raises and sudden pivots.