Xunlei Chen Lei Case: Dark Deals, Mistresses, and Crypto Black Money Under the Blockchain Frenzy

Original Author: Ma He, Foresight News

In January 2026, Xunlei and its subsidiary Onething Technologies filed a civil lawsuit against Chen Lei and his core team on the grounds of "disputes over liability for damaging company interests," seeking compensation of up to 200 million yuan. The case has been accepted and filed by a relevant court in Shenzhen.

This lawsuit stems from a series of allegations in 2020, including that Chen Lei was suspected of misappropriating company assets through fabricated transactions and false contracts, and diverting tens of millions of funds for illegal cryptocurrency speculation. To evade investigation, Chen Lei left the country in early April 2020 and has since remained overseas for an extended period, leading to the criminal investigation being dropped at one point due to difficulties in evidence collection.

This incident not only exposed the internal governance chaos at Xunlei but also reflected the unregulated growth and regulatory risks of early Chinese internet companies venturing into the crypto space.

Chen Lei began learning programming in high school, was admitted to the Computer Science Department of Tsinghua University for his undergraduate studies, pursued further education in the United States, gained experience at Google and Microsoft, and then returned to China to join Tencent. Chen Lei's profile is that of a standard tech elite.

In 2014, he joined Xunlei as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) when the company was facing challenges with its declining download business. As a former Microsoft employee, Chen Lei was skilled in distributed computing and cloud computing technologies, which aligned with Xunlei's core P2P download business. From 2015 to 2017, he served as Co-CEO of Xunlei, and officially became CEO and a director in July 2017.

At that time, the global blockchain boom was rising, Bitcoin prices were soaring, and Chinese companies were actively exploring this emerging field. Chen Lei led Xunlei's transformation towards blockchain, viewing it as the key to the company's revival.

Wanke Cloud, From Glory to Decline

Xunlei's landmark product for entering the crypto space was "Wanke Cloud." In October 2017, Xunlei launched the Wanke Cloud hardware, a smart shared storage device where users were rewarded with "Wanke Coins" for contributing idle bandwidth and storage resources.

This model quickly ignited the market. Sales of Wanke Cloud devices surged, and the price of LinkToken skyrocketed hundreds of times at one point. At its peak, the daily revenue from Wanke Cloud devices exceeded 100 million yuan. Originally priced at 399 yuan per unit, even second-hand Wanke Cloud devices were speculated to prices as high as 3,000 yuan. The initial unofficial opening price of LinkToken was 0.1 yuan, and it once rose to nearly 10 yuan.

Chen Lei repeatedly emphasized in public that this was Xunlei's innovation in "sharing economy + blockchain," aimed at building a distributed computing ecosystem. Xunlei also established a blockchain lab, promoting projects like Onething Chain, attempting to secure a position in the decentralized storage and computing fields.

However, in late 2017 and early 2018, influenced by China's "94 ban" and announcements from the National Internet Finance Association of China, Wanke Coin was renamed "LinkToken." The price of LinkToken continued to fall, leading to protests from some investors.

Having a Child with a Lover, Misappropriating Tens of Millions for Crypto Speculation

Nevertheless, thanks to its blockchain initiatives, Xunlei's stock price once soared from $4 to $27.

While Chen Lei's crypto ventures appeared successful, they sowed the seeds of trouble: company resources were tilted towards blockchain, internal management became lax, and fund flows were unclear. Entering 2019, Xunlei's blockchain business faced bottlenecks. The global crypto market corrected, Chinese regulations tightened, and Wanke Cloud sales declined. Chen Lei attempted to expand into edge computing through the subsidiary Onething Technologies, but internal conflicts gradually emerged.

According to informed sources, Chen Lei had a close relationship with then Senior Vice President Dong Xue, who recruited several fellow townspeople and relatives from Heilongjiang into key positions, forming a "small circle."

This provided fertile ground for subsequent corruption allegations. In April 2020, Xunlei's board of directors suddenly dismissed Chen Lei, citing suspected duty encroachment. The new management's audit revealed that Chen Lei had transferred funds through "Xing Ronghe," a company he effectively controlled (a bandwidth supplier for Xunlei). Xing Ronghe was established in 2019 and had frequent transactions with Onething Technologies. Chen Lei was suspected of inflating transaction links, fabricating false contracts, and embezzling approximately 200 million yuan from the company.

More notably were the allegations of misappropriating funds for crypto speculation. The audit showed that Chen Lei was suspected of diverting tens of millions of company funds for illegal cryptocurrency speculation activities explicitly banned by the state.

Specific details included: through confidants like Dong Xue, placing personnel in finance, procurement, and other departments to create false reimbursements and overpaid salaries, with the funds ultimately flowing into the cryptocurrency market. At the time, Bitcoin prices were rebounding from lows in early 2020, and Chen Lei likely speculated on this. This behavior violated China's ban on virtual currency transactions and constituted suspected duty encroachment.

Furthermore, Chen Lei and Dong Xue had a child together during their tenure, and their relationship was not purely professional, further fueling suspicions of improper benefit transfers.

Public information shows that Dong Xue served as Senior Vice President of Xunlei Group and Marketing Vice President of Onething Technologies, overseeing core departments such as business development, marketing, and human resources, reporting directly to then CEO Chen Lei. The two had crossed paths earlier during their Tencent Cloud days (Dong Xue was an ordinary public relations staff member at Tencent Cloud). After Chen Lei joined Xunlei in 2014, Dong Xue gradually rose through the ranks, becoming his key confidant. Rumors of them being lovers (or having an improper relationship) circulated internally even during Chen Lei's tenure.

The Xunlei board of directors once questioned Chen Lei face-to-face, and he guaranteed on his "reputation as a Christian" that they were merely colleagues with no other relationship.

However, after Chen Lei's dismissal, company audits and investigations revealed: Chen Lei and Dong Xue had a child together during their tenure at Xunlei. This directly contradicted Chen Lei's earlier guarantee, confirming their intimate personal relationship and the formation of a tight-knit interest community.

To evade investigation, Chen Lei left the country with Dong Xue in early April 2020, transferring his equity at low prices to relatives, making it difficult for Xunlei to pursue accountability.

In October 2020, Xunlei reported to the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau that Chen Lei and others were suspected of duty encroachment, and the police filed a case for investigation. The company issued announcements urging Chen Lei to return to China and cooperate, but to no avail. The criminal case was dropped in late 2022 due to Chen Lei's overseas stay and evidentiary obstacles.

Five years later, in 2026, Xunlei restarted civil proceedings, with the focus still on fund transfers and misappropriation for crypto speculation. New evidence shows that before his dismissal, Chen Lei terminated dozens of core employees, causing talent loss and compensation losses.

If successful, this case could set a precedent for corporate governance in China. Chen Lei's journey, starting with Xunlei's blockchain innovation and ending with allegations of misappropriating funds for crypto speculation, embodies the opportunities and pitfalls of the early crypto space. Xunlei once revived on the back of blockchain concepts, only to collapse due to regulation and internal corruption. Chen Lei's case serves as a warning: technological innovation must comply with regulations, and personal ambition, if it oversteps boundaries, will inevitably lead to severe consequences.