Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

By Golem ( @web3_golem )

On October 15, Jay Chou, who had just finished his carnival tour, posted a message on his Instagram account with tens of millions of followers, looking for his former magician friend Cai Weize, and said: "If anyone sees this magician who can make himself disappear, please notify me. Do you think I'm not a magician? If you don't show up, you're done." He then directly unfollowed the other party.

About an hour after Jay Chou posted the notice looking for friends, Cai Weize also responded on Instagram saying "I haven't appeared for a long time", and then wrote: "Sorry will stay off social for another bit. Expect temp void of response." (Sorry, I will stop using social software for a while and will not reply to any messages for the time being)."

The "other-dimensional" conversation between Jay Chou and his former friend Cai Weize also left fans confused. What happened that made Jay Chou speak so harshly?

Defrauding Jay Chou of hundreds of millions of Taiwan dollars in the name of magic investment?

Cai Weize is a magician from Taiwan, China. He appeared on "America's Got Talent" in 2017, but he is more famous as a close friend of Jay Chou. In 2018, he performed "Confession Balloon" with Jay Chou on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala. In 2020, he participated in Jay Chou's travel reality show "Travels" as a regular guest.

The current falling out between Jay Chou and Cai Weize is likely due to a financial dispute. On October 16th, Taiwanese media reported that the two were involved in a financial dispute exceeding NT$100 million (approximately US$23 million), which had already caused losses to a third party. Jay Chou's JVR Music received a demand for payment from a third party, but received no response to his private messages, forcing him to resort to this desperate measure.

JVR Music has not yet responded to this story. However, some media outlets speculate that the incident stemmed from an investment in a magic project for the 2024 film "Journey of Zhou 2." Cai Weize proposed a partnership, and Jay Chou, trusting his JVR Music, invested hundreds of millions of Taiwan dollars. However, after the project concluded, Cai Weize defaulted on the repayment due date. Not only did JVR Music fail to recover the money, but it also implicated several third-party companies that had partnered with it.

Helped Jay Chou to invest in Bitcoin but lost it all on "10.11"?

But there's another version of this story in the cryptocurrency world. Some media outlets speculate that the hundreds of millions of dollars Jay Chou gave Cai Weize wasn't a Magic Investment, but rather a trust for Cai Weize to invest and manage Bitcoin. However, a year ago, Cai Weize claimed his Bitcoin account had been locked, preventing Jay Chou from withdrawing his funds. He then pleaded poverty, claiming numerous requests for repayment, prompting Jay Chou to give him time. Unexpectedly, Cai Weize has since vanished, and the assets have yet to be returned. Jay Chou, now frustrated beyond belief, publicly addressed the situation on Instagram.

According to insiders, Cai Weize was once active in the blockchain investment community, repeatedly leveraging his relationship with Jay Chou to solicit investment. Rumors even arose that he had his girlfriend embezzle company funds to engage in crypto trading. He also claimed to have acquainted himself with members of Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern royal families, helping them invest and taking commissions.

At the same time, some people in the cryptocurrency circle speculated that Jay Chou’s hundreds of millions of Taiwan dollars may have been liquidated in the "10.11" crash, and Cai Weize did not dare to face Jay Chou, so he chose to disappear.

But so far, the above statements are all speculations, without any real evidence. Jay Chou has now deleted the post looking for Cai Weize, perhaps because he has already conducted private mediation, or perhaps because of the public impact.

In 2017, Cai Weize participated in "America's Got Talent" and used four NT$10 coins as props to perform magic tricks on stage, making them disappear, shift, and even transform into flower petals. He claimed that these were his own original magic tricks, which catapulted him to fame. He subsequently developed a deeper connection with Jay Chou, a magic enthusiast, and became close friends. Cai Weize's recent absconding with hundreds of millions of NT dollars worth of Bitcoin is a real-life "Now You See Me" scenario.