| Coffeezilla | |
| Channel Url: | UCFQMnBA3CS502aghlcr0_aw |
| Channel Display Name: | Coffeezilla |
| Years Active: | 2018–present |
| Genre: | Commentary, finance |
| Subscribers: | 3.67 million |
| Views: | 455 million |
| Silver Button: | y |
| Gold Button: | y |
Stephen Findeisen, better known as Coffeezilla, is an American YouTuber and crypto journalist who is known primarily for his channel in which he investigates and discusses online scams, usually surrounding cryptocurrency, decentralized finance and internet celebrities.[1] Before Coffeezilla, Findeisen was active on YouTube with the channel Coffee Break between 2017 and 2020.
Findeisen holds a degree in chemical engineering from Texas A&M University.[2]
Before his YouTube career, he sold houses for a local builder.[3] Findeisen was motivated to hunt down scams after his mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer, was persuaded to buy questionable products with the belief that they would help cure her. His mother would later end up recovering after surgery.[4] He began his career as a YouTuber by uploading videos in which he makes allegations about influencers and financial commentators.[5] [6]
Findeisen generally records his videos in front of a green screen; his backgrounds feature elaborate computer graphics, and he inserts animated graphics to illustrate his content, including a recurring character of a robot bartender called Maxwell.
He gained international recognition after making a series of videos that investigated Save the Kids token, a cryptocurrency widely seen as a pump and dump scheme. He claimed that former FaZe Clan member Frazier Khattri (FaZe Kay) collaborated with YouTube prankster Sam Pepper. In response, Khattri's lawyers threatened to sue Findeisen in a cease and desist letter unless he retracted his statements, but Findeisen called the cease and desist letter "absolute toilet paper".[7] [8]
In April 2022, Findeisen accused the SafeMoon team of misappropriating millions of dollars.[9] According to Findeisen, Safemoon CEO John Karony had been removing funds from the liquidity pool which is the primary explanation for the crypto's price pattern. Findeisen found evidence of transactions that showed Safemoon's liquidity wallet moving funds to a wallet dubbed the "Gabe (6abe) wallet" which withdrew funds to a separate company run by Karony. Former SafeMoon CTO Thomas "Papa" Smith was the only person who responded to Findeisen's claims stating that funds were taken from the "locked liquidity pool" before Karony's appointment. He sent Smith evidence of this in the form of a blockchain transaction showing an outflow of 36.7 trillion tokens from the liquidity pool, dated March 5, 2021. Former SafeMoon CTO, Thomas Smith who had a role as a blockchain advisor for StrikeX, was dismissed by the company after the fraud allegations uncovered by Findeisen.[10] Coffeezilla has made multiple other reports on SafeMoon, including the pump and dump scheme against many influencers including Soulja Boy, Logan Paul, Lil Yachty, Ben Phillips among others as well as highlighting the controversy surrounding the SafeMoon CEO suing his own mother.[11]
Findeisen additionally was active during the bankruptcy of FTX, interviewing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on three occasions and describing Bankman-Fried's responses during the last interview as an admission of fraud. In light of his involvement with investigating FTX in particular, The Washington Post credited Findeisen as one of the most powerful independent news sources when it comes to the cryptocurrency industry.[12]
See main article: article and CryptoZoo (game). In December 2022, Findeisen published a three-part series on NFT-based game CryptoZoo, a project Logan Paul developed and founded.[13] He criticized the project for not delivering on its promises and alleged that the team engaged in market manipulation.[14] In a now-deleted video, Paul responded to the allegations, while also threatening legal action against Findeisen for defamation and claiming that Findeisen broke "criminal and civil laws" by uploading a recording of a phone call with his manager, Jeff Levin. He withdrew the threat in January 2023.
On June 27, 2024, Paul filed a lawsuit for defamation against Findeisen, alleging that Findeisen had spread false information about Paul's connection with CryptoZoo.[15] In a review of the initial legal documentation filed by Paul's legal team, YouTuber legal commentator, LegalEagle noted that the case was filed in the federal courts of Texas where an anti-SLAPP motion is not available to Findeisen as a tool to prevent a costly legal battle.[16] Additionally, Findeisen would be represented by Mark Bankston and Bill Ogden of Farrar & Ball in this matter. In August 2024, Findeisen responded in a video asserting that the lawsuit is a strategic move to block investigations into Liquid Marketplace, a company co-owned by Paul, which has been accused by Canadian authorities of "multi-layered fraud".[17]
Findeisen has been married since 2017 and lives with his wife in San Antonio, Texas.