Taipei District Prosecutors Office has uncovered a new layer in the Absolute Energy investigation — a DeFi lending scam that operated alongside previously discovered unlicensed securities offerings. Since 2022, the company issued EGT and TBT tokens and built a "lending smart contract" app, promising high returns to investors who bought the tokens and authorized wallet funds. The scheme raked in over NT$5 billion from nearly 1,000 victims across Taiwan.
High-Yield Rhetoric and Fake Smart Contracts
Prosecutors say Absolute Energy CEO Chiu Chih-hao and his team marketed the platform with promises of "high interest" and "passive income." They advertised monthly returns of 3% to 7%, translating to annual rates of 12% to 84%. In a low-interest-rate environment after the pandemic, the team used crypto and DeFi jargon to portray the investment as far superior to traditional financial products. Victims exchanged New Taiwan Dollars for EGT or TBT tokens — later deemed worthless — then sent them to platform wallets, authorizing a so-called lending smart contract that did not actually perform real lending.
Prosecutors Expand Roundup, 8 Detained
Yesterday, prosecutors raided multiple locations and took nine suspects into custody. Among them, eight — including Chiu's secretary Chiu Chao-lu, DeFi COO Huang Yung-han, sales director Wu Cheng-feng, software engineer Huang Chun-wei, and sales staff Lin Yu-tai, Yang Hsien-chih, Wang Yu-wei, and Hsu Han-yang — have been remanded in custody pending trial. Chiu himself refused overnight interrogation and was transferred to the prosecutor's office this afternoon, covering his face and remaining silent. Whether he will also face detention is under review.
Focus Turns to Fund Recovery
The investigation will now trace the flow of EGT and TBT token sales, internal accounting records, and actual lending activity on the DeFi platform. Each suspect's role in soliciting investments, designing the product, and managing funds will be determined. For the nearly 1,000 victims, the key question is how much money can be recovered — a matter that depends on asset tracing and freezing of illicit proceeds. The case continues to expand.