Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

Author｜jk

Token 2049, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency conferences, has just concluded, but an unexpected "relationship turmoil" has caused a stir in the community and on Twitter. The incident stems from a "forensic investigation" at 10,000 meters, leading to the breakup of a crypto couple. As of press time, the related post has garnered over 6.6 million views , surpassing nearly all Token 2049 project news. This is undoubtedly the most dramatic off-site news story of this Token 2049 event.

The incident began on October 3rd, when Twitter user Kate (@katexbt) accidentally saw the phone screen of her neighbor on a flight back from Singapore Token 2049. The passenger sitting in seat 15F was named Chris, a cryptocurrency industry practitioner, and the chat content displayed on his phone caught Kate's attention.

The chat logs show Chris having a rather flirtatious conversation with a woman. The woman wrote in the message: "You're so tempting! Have a safe trip, Chris. By the way, sorry to be so blunt, but I wanted to let you know I'm on my period...it's in the last few days...if that's okay with you, we can (maybe should?) still do the things we've been dreaming about for the past two months."

Chris was typing a reply when Kate found him: "I just want to be close to you more than anything, don't worry."

Kate immediately posted about the incident, including details: "If your name is Fei, and you have a white boyfriend named Chris in the cryptocurrency circle, and he flew from Singapore Token 2049 to London Heathrow Airport yesterday, sitting in seat 15F, then he is definitely cheating. He booked a hotel room and planned to spend the night with a girl named Cheng who he met at the @irys_xyz and @multibank_io booths under the pretext of a business trip to London."

The post quickly went viral within the crypto community. Data shows that in just two days, it garnered 4 million views, 444,000 interactions, over 97,000 detail expansions, and 28,000 profile visits. Kate herself expressed surprise at the sheer volume: "I was surprised, too."

Some troublemakers even attached an enhanced and clearer version of the blurry text on the screen, which readers can check for themselves.

Even more dramatic, Chris's girlfriend, Fei (@yeunglean), saw the post that very same day. That same day, she released a breakup announcement: "Update: Chris and I just broke up. Funny thing is, we first met at Token two years ago; maybe industry conferences are just places for white guys to meet Asian girls. gg (game over)."

The post also received more than 5.4 million hits.

The crypto community's reactions to this incident have been varied, ranging from sympathy and support to dark humor:

Many people accused Kate of exploiting someone else's personal affairs to gain traffic. However, many female bloggers felt that Kate was "upholding justice" and "fighting for women who have been kept in the dark."

Of course, there are also some great comments.

Irys founder Josh Benaron expressed confusion in a comment on Kate's post: "Who is Cheng? I think you've got the wrong project." Since Kate's post mentioned Cheng working at the Irys booth, Josh sounded concerned about the company being dragged into the situation. Kate quickly clarified: "It's probably someone unrelated to the project. It's not her fault. Don't worry. Love Irys."

Wizard Of SoHo quipped: "This is why you should never fly economy class ;)" Kate responded: "Right on, big shot."

User jazz (@degenjazz) said: "Fuck, Cheng is my girlfriend," and no one knows if he is joking;

Joe Wong (@KhunJoe 5) predicted: "This may be Chris's last Token 2049, until 2049." Kate responded succinctly: "Really."

User celestineia offered blunt advice: "Never date a guy you met at a crypto conference."

Ritesh (@Ritesh_Trades) commented: "Coldplay moment in crypto."

(Odaily Note: During a Coldplay concert at Gillette Stadium in Boston, a kiss cam captured a couple embracing. When they realized they were projected onto the stadium's giant screen, the woman immediately covered her face with her hands, while the man avoided the camera entirely. Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin even quipped, "Either they're having an affair, or they're just really shy." The couple was later revealed to be Andy Byron, CEO of the tech company Astronomer, and Kristin Cabot, its chief human resources officer. Both are married with children. The video went viral on social media, garnering over 30 million views. Ultimately, Andy Byron resigned as CEO, and the company's board of directors launched a formal investigation.)

Long-time crypto user Code (@CodeXBT) said: "You're truly an off-chain zachxbt (a detective who's good at tracking hacking incidents)."

Regardless, this "blockchain-style forensics" operation, which began at 10,000 meters in the air, has left a permanent record on Twitter in the most transparent and immutable manner. Regardless of the procedural justice of this forensics, and regardless of the debate surrounding it, the process cannot be reversed.

But next time, we may not be able to see Chris in Token 2049.