From the founder of AEX to the prisoner: Huang Tianwei’s arrest in Thailand

Author: 1912212.eth, Foresight News

On June 12, the Thai local media Khaosod English reported that the Thai Immigration Bureau arrested Huang Tianwei, a 39-year-old Chinese man, at Don Mueang International Airport, when he was trying to board Lion Airlines flight SL100, and he was charged with a cryptocurrency fraud case involving 200 million baht (about 5 million US dollars). Huang Tianwei is the founder of AEX (Anyin Exchange), who was once a big shot in the currency circle. In July 2022, the crypto trading platform AEX collapsed and closed the withdrawal function, saying that it could not repay users' withdrawal needs due to short-term liquidity issues.

This arrest not only unveiled the mystery of Huang Tianwei's whereabouts in recent years, but also brought the "thunder" incident of the AEX exchange back into the public's sight.

The rise of Huang Tianwei and AEX

Huang Tianwei was one of the early representatives of China's cryptocurrency industry. In 2013, he founded the Bit Times Exchange, one of the earliest bitcoin trading platforms in China. At that time, the cryptocurrency market was still in a wild growth stage, and the price of Bitcoin fluctuated violently, attracting a large number of speculators and early investors. Bit Times quickly accumulated a user base with its low handling fees and flexible trading mechanism, becoming one of the trading platforms with a certain reputation.

In 2018, Bit Times was renamed AEX (Anyin Exchange) and began to expand into the global market. AEX focuses on high-yield financial products and high-leverage trading, attracting a large number of retail investors. According to X platform user @chaoge_btc, AEX has a huge number of users at its peak, and the platform claims to have managed assets of billions of dollars.

Huang Tianwei himself is also regarded as a legendary entrepreneur in the currency circle because of his keen market sense and radical operational strategies. However, there are huge risks behind this high-yield model.

AEX Breaking Thunder and Huang Tianwei Escape

In 2021, the AEX exchange began to experience a liquidity crisis. According to user @0xwanchongshan, AEX closed the withdrawal function in 2022 due to "liquidity issues", resulting in a large number of users being unable to withdraw funds. Investors found that the high-yield financial products promised by the platform are actually Ponzi schemes, relying on new users' funds to pay interest from old users. When the market entered a bear market and the capital chain broke, AEX quickly fell into a bank run crisis.

According to @chaoge_btc statistics, the AEX burst caused losses of about 22,000 victims to exceed US$20 million, of which he himself lost 147 Bitcoins.

The storm of AEX triggered a wide range of rights protection actions, but Huang Tianwei "evaporated" at this time. In 2021, he was briefly detained by local police in Guigang, Guangxi, but was later released. According to X users, Huang Tianwei quickly fled to Thailand after his release, trying to evade accountability through a low-key life. This incident has angered many victims. They have organized their rights to protect their rights through social media and even pursued them across borders, but the results have been minimal.

The fuse of Thailand's fraud case

Huang Tianwei's life in Thailand is not calm. On April 23, 2025, two Chinese people met with Huang Tianwei in the Mae District of Chiang Rai Prefecture, Thailand to discuss a cryptocurrency investment cooperation. According to Thai police, the two victims were baited by Huang Tianwei to induce investment of about 200 million baht of Bitcoin. However, after the investment, the funds evaporated quickly and Huang Tianwei lost contact. The victim immediately reported the case to the Chiang Rai District Court, and the court issued an arrest warrant in April 2025, accusing Huang Tianwei of suspected major fraud.

On June 12, Huang Tianwei was arrested by the Immigration Bureau at Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand. During a routine inspection at the airport, Thai police found that Huang Tianwei's passport information matched the wanted order of the Chiang Rai Court, so they arrested him. At present, he has been handed over to the Mae District Police Station of Chiang Rai Prefecture for further investigation. On June 14, eight Chinese investors who claimed to be victims of the AEX burst gathered at the door of the Chiang Rai County Police Department to ask for a meeting with Huang Tianwei, but the police said the AEX burst had nothing to do with the Thai fraud case and refused to arrange a meeting.

Archer Wolfe, founder of crypto consulting firm MohrWolfe and former Thai resident, predicted in an interview with Decrypto that “Huang Tianwei will be extradited back to China and the Thai government will confiscate the Bitcoin and they will simply settle the case unless they pay an outrageously high fee.”

Once became a popular copycat trading platform

Public information shows that Huang Tianwei served as product manager and project manager at Tencent, and was once the vice president of Fantsey's basketball manager. He founded Bit Times in 2013. It was the most popular altcoin trading platform of that year. "The traffic in the Bit Times instantly defeated Huobi, OKX and Bitcoin China at that time," wrote Twitter KOL Nangong Yuan.

Tianyan Check shows that the four companies of Shenzhen Times Blockchain Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Zhiwei Network Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Jiuyi Times Information Technology Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Huiqu Network Co., Ltd., which Huang Tianwei serves as the legal representative have all been cancelled. Among them, Shenzhen Zhiwei Network Co., Ltd., a company affiliated to Bit Times under Huang Tianwei, was cancelled in September 2021.

According to an exclusive interview article report by Southern Enterprise News Network, Huang Tianwei described his 10 years of financial experience, and his investments include dozens of companies such as Tianjin Co., Ltd., Bitmain, and Yixiang Network. He has also participated in leading cases such as Lanqi Technology M&A, State Grid Times raising, and Ampron backdoor acquisitions.

After the AEX burst, various social platforms have witnessed their rights protection incidents one after another. Some went to their hometown to protect their rights, some also graffitied and wrote on the floor, and even put up banners.

According to people familiar with the matter, the case was investigated by the Economic Crime Investigation Detachment of the Guigang Public Security Bureau of Guangxi. Huang Tianwei was once arrested and later released. Foresight News will continue to focus on the development of the case.