From AEX Founder to Prisoner: The Rise and Fall of Huang Tianwei in Thailand

Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

On June 12, local Thai media "Khaosod English" reported that the Thai Immigration Bureau arrested a 39-year-old Chinese man, Huang Tianwei, at Don Mueang International Airport while he was attempting to board the Lion Air SL100 flight. He is accused of being involved in a cryptocurrency fraud case involving 200 million Thai Baht (approximately over 5 million USD). Huang Tianwei was once the founder of AEX (Anyin Exchange), a prominent player in the cryptocurrency space. In July 2022, the cryptocurrency trading platform AEX collapsed, shutting down its withdrawal function, claiming it was unable to meet user withdrawal demands due to short-term liquidity issues.

This arrest not only unveiled the mystery surrounding Huang Tianwei's whereabouts in recent years but also brought the AEX exchange's "collapse" incident back into the public eye.

Huang Tianwei and the Rise of AEX

Huang Tianwei is one of the early representatives of the Chinese cryptocurrency industry. In 2013, he founded Bit Era Exchange, one of the earliest Bitcoin trading platforms in China. At that time, the cryptocurrency market was still in a phase of wild growth, with Bitcoin prices fluctuating wildly, attracting a large number of speculators and early investors. Bit Era quickly accumulated a user base due to its low fees and flexible trading mechanisms, becoming one of the more well-known trading platforms.

In 2018, Bit Era was renamed AEX (Anyin Exchange) and began to expand into the global market. AEX focused on high-yield financial products and high-leverage trading, attracting a large number of retail investors. According to X platform user @chaoge_btc, AEX had a massive user base at its peak, with the platform claiming to manage assets worth billions of dollars.

Huang Tianwei himself was regarded as a legendary entrepreneur in the cryptocurrency space due to his keen market sense and aggressive operational strategies. However, this high-yield model concealed significant risks.

AEX's Collapse and Huang Tianwei's Escape

In 2021, AEX began to experience a liquidity crisis. According to user @0xwanchongshan, AEX closed its withdrawal function in 2022 due to "liquidity issues," leaving many users unable to withdraw their funds. Investors discovered that the high-yield financial products promised by the platform were actually a Ponzi scheme, relying on funds from new users to pay interest to old users. As the market entered a bear phase and the capital chain broke, AEX quickly fell into a run on the bank.

According to @chaoge_btc, the collapse of AEX resulted in approximately 22,000 victims losing over 20 million USD, with him personally losing 147 Bitcoins.

The collapse of AEX triggered widespread rights protection actions, but Huang Tianwei "vanished" at that time. In 2021, he was briefly detained by local police in Guigang, Guangxi, but was subsequently released. According to X users, Huang Tianwei quickly fled to Thailand after his release, attempting to evade accountability by living a low-profile life. This incident infuriated many victims, who organized rights protection actions through social media and even pursued cross-border claims, but with little success.

The Catalyst for the Thai Fraud Case

Huang Tianwei's life in Thailand was not smooth sailing. On April 23, 2025, two Chinese nationals met with Huang Tianwei in the Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai, Thailand, to discuss a cryptocurrency investment collaboration. According to Thai police, these two victims were lured by Huang Tianwei with promises of high returns to invest approximately 200 million Thai Baht in Bitcoin. However, after the investment, the funds quickly evaporated, and Huang Tianwei went missing. The victims promptly reported the case to the Chiang Rai local court, which issued an arrest warrant for Huang Tianwei in April 2025, accusing him of serious fraud.

On June 12, Huang Tianwei was arrested by the Immigration Bureau at Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand. During a routine check at the airport, Thai police found that Huang Tianwei's passport information matched the wanted notice from the Chiang Rai court, leading to his arrest. He has since been transferred to the Mae Sai police station in Chiang Rai for further investigation. On June 14, eight Chinese investors claiming to be victims of the AEX collapse gathered outside the Chiang Rai County police station, demanding to meet Huang Tianwei, but the police stated that the AEX collapse was unrelated to the Thai fraud case and refused to arrange a meeting.

Archer Wolfe, founder of cryptocurrency consulting firm MohrWolfe and a former resident of Thailand, predicted in an interview with Decrypto, "Huang Tianwei is likely to be extradited back to China, and the Thai government will confiscate the Bitcoin unless an exorbitant fee is paid; otherwise, they will simply close the case."

Once a Popular Altcoin Trading Platform

Public records show that Huang Tianwei previously worked as a product manager and project manager at Tencent and served as the vice president of Fantasy Basketball Manager. He founded Bit Era in 2013, which was one of the hottest altcoin trading platforms at the time. "At that time, Bit Era's traffic outperformed Huobi, OKX, and Bitcoin China," tweeted KOL Nangong Yuan.

Tianyancha shows that the four companies where Huang Tianwei served as the legal representative—Shenzhen Era Blockchain Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Zhiwei Network Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Jiuyi Era Information Technology Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Huiqu Network Co., Ltd.—have all been deregistered. Among them, Shenzhen Zhiwei Network Co., Ltd., associated with Bit Era, was deregistered in September 2021.

According to an exclusive report by Southern Enterprise News, Huang Tianwei claimed to have 10 years of experience in the financial industry, with investments in dozens of companies including Tianjin Jinxin Co., Bitmain, and Yixiang Network, and he also participated in leading cases such as the acquisition of Lanke Technology, fundraising for State Grid Era, and the backdoor listing of Anpulon.

After the collapse of AEX, various rights protection incidents emerged across social media platforms, with some going to his hometown for rights protection, while others graffiti on the floor or even raised banners.

According to informed sources, the case was once investigated by the Economic Crime Investigation Team of the Guigang Public Security Bureau in Guangxi, where Huang Tianwei was briefly arrested and later released. Foresight News will continue to follow the developments of this case.