Fupeng Sparks Controversy in the Crypto Community Five Days After Joining Newfire Group

Original ｜ Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)

Author | Golem (@web3_golem)

It took Fu Peng only five days from the official announcement of entering the crypto industry to being ridiculed by the public.

On April 20, Fu Peng, former Chief Economist at Northeast Securities, announced his appointment as Chief Economist at Xinhuo Group, a Hong Kong-listed company. Following the announcement, Xinhuo Group’s stock price surged over 12% during trading. Three days after joining Xinhuo, Fu Peng appeared at the 2026 Hong Kong Web3 Carnival and delivered a speech. In his address, he proposed that future financial markets will enter an “FICC+C” era, where traditional asset allocation will incorporate crypto assets. Fu Peng also addressed why he transitioned into the crypto industry: “Because your (crypto) industry has matured to the point where it can be integrated into investment portfolios.”

Fu Peng’s high-handed tone during this speech may have already sown the seeds for conflict with crypto KOLs. On April 25, Fu Peng wrote a post stating that the funding rate for Bitcoin perpetual contracts is similar to the deferred fee in traditional financial gold spot trading. While this remark itself was unremarkable, Fu Peng later added that most people didn’t understand what he meant—only early large-scale BTC holders and those with a certain level of expertise could grasp his point.

This arrogant and “you-know-what-I-mean” rhetoric has sparked backlash within the crypto community, with numerous comments mocking Fu Peng. The most representative meme is the “Zhao Bei possession” joke, implying that Fu Peng’s past statements reflect chasing price rallies and selling off dips, revealing little real expertise (Odaily Note: Zhao Bei is a crypto KOL who, as a fund manager, experienced massive losses—losing 99% of a position worth over RMB 20 million in ETH.)

Surprisingly, under the guise of "reciprocal courtesy," Fu Peng lost his composure and blocked all KOLs and crypto professionals who had mocked or made fun of him. This instant reaction of blocking anyone who disagreed with him completely enraged the crypto community, exposing the true nature behind Fu Peng’s polished public image.

Who is Fu Peng? Cryptocurrency-native users may not be familiar with him, but those who regularly follow macroeconomic and broad asset class financial topics will certainly recognize this name.

Public records show that during the early stage of Fu Peng’s career, he was primarily based in the UK, having graduated from the University of Reading in the UK. In 2004, he joined Lehman Brothers in the UK (then the world’s fourth-largest investment bank); from 2005 to the end of 2008, he worked at an event-driven strategy fund under Solomon International Investment Group, serving as Global Head of Macro Hedge Strategy Design; after returning to China in 2008, he held senior positions such as Chief Macroeconomic Advisor at China Zhongqi Group and China Galaxy Futures.

Fu Peng gained broader public recognition after joining Northeast Securities as Chief Economist in 2020. Initially, he primarily served private banking clients, providing macroeconomic-based wealth allocation advice to high-net-worth individuals. In 2024, he went viral after delivering several speeches that challenged mainstream macroeconomic views, becoming a "celebrity economist." Excerpts from his talks were clipped into short videos and widely shared on social media, sparking extensive discussion. According to public reports, at the time, Fu Peng had over 4 million followers on Weibo alone.

However, the good times didn’t last—by the end of 2024, Fu Peng’s accounts on multiple platforms were suspended due to his long-standing publication of bearish views on China’s economy and controversial statements. At the end of April 2025, Fu Peng stated that, due to health reasons requiring surgery and recovery, he had resigned from Northeast Securities.

Summary of some of Fu Peng's past statements

This is merely Fu Peng’s professional resume; after a mass blacklisting of crypto KOLs, his past involvement with crypto was also uncovered. In 2024, during a paid economic course analyzing gold, Fu Peng expressed bearish views on both Bitcoin and gold, but later faced multiple refund demands as his predictions diverged from actual price movements.

In 2025, Fu Peng included the cryptocurrency sector in his video course series "Fu Peng Speaks" Season 6, promoting paid courses such as "BTC: A Financial Asset in the AI Era" and "Stablecoins Reconstructing the Global Monetary Order," bundled and sold for 1,798 yuan, at a time when Bitcoin reached a new high of $120,000; today, Bitcoin's price fluctuates between $75,000 and $80,000.

Fu Peng's paid course

From the above experience, it is clear that Fu Peng is not a traditional academic economist; rather, his role is more akin to that of an economic commentator or macro analyst, providing directional forecasts aimed at guiding trading decisions without personally engaging in trading. After being collectively banned by domestic financial media at the end of 2024, Fu Peng’s reputation and professional credibility have sharply declined, and even now, his statements remain blocked from spreading on mainstream social media platforms in China.

Given this, why did Xinhuo still appoint Fu Peng as Chief Economist?

This all goes back to last August, when former HashKey Exchange CEO Weng Xiaoqi officially joined FireBlock and assumed the role of CEO. Upon taking office, Weng Xiaoqi introduced a new strategy for FireBlock: to become a private banking-grade digital asset custodian, offering end-to-end services—from crypto asset allocation to custody—tailored specifically for high-net-worth individuals and institutions.

Under this new strategy, Fu Peng has indeed become the most suitable candidate; he can serve as a trusted intermediary for Xinhuo in the traditional finance sector and, based on his previous professional background, can also bring targeted client resources to Xinhuo.

Xinhuo Group is a company that has evolved through name changes and downsizing from the “Huobi ecosystem listing platform.” Although it now holds regulatory licenses, its core business remains private banking, which relies fundamentally on trust. Simply relying on Xinhuo’s track record and brand image is insufficient to earn the trust of traditional family offices and high-net-worth individuals. Therefore, Fu Peng, a sales representative with a background in “First Financial” and continued public recognition in the finance sector, can enhance Xinhuo’s client credibility.

Second, as a "celebrity economist," Fu Peng possesses exceptional market translation skills. He knows how to translate complex, abstract topics such as macroeconomics, asset classes, and debt cycles into language accessible to the general public and clients, and he understands how to excite high-net-worth individuals. Finally, Fu Peng’s previous sphere of influence likely reached a cohort of middle- to high-net-worth clients with asset allocation needs. Leveraging his accumulated resources, Fu Peng could at least significantly enhance customer outreach for the newly launched digital assets private banking business.

Success comes from Xiao He, and so does failure. The conflict between Fu Peng and the crypto community is essentially a mismatch between his traditional finance background and the crypto industry.

The integration of traditional finance and the crypto industry has only begun in the past two years; before that, and at the time of Bitcoin’s inception, the crypto industry and traditional finance were fundamentally at odds. The crypto industry questioned the inefficiency and corruption of the traditional financial system, giving rise to its native spirit of anti-authority, decentralization, and equality. Although the two fields have now ceased hostilities, this spirit remains.

Having been accustomed to the traditional financial discourse, Fu Peng has yet to adapt to the舆论 environment of the crypto industry. He is used to one-way forms of expression such as speeches and private seminars, and is accustomed to adopting a didactic posture, intolerant of direct questioning from his audience. He does not understand the industry’s long-standing culture of平等 and immediate communication, nor does he realize that even CZ and He Yi sometimes face public scrutiny from the community. As a result, after being mocked by the community, he resorted to the traditional approach of financial bloggers—blocking and deleting comments, selecting content without offering any rebuttal.

Meanwhile, the crypto industry has changed. In the past, when crypto was still a niche sector, any well-known figure from traditional finance, entertainment, or regulation who endorsed crypto would gain favor—and could even capitalize on the hype. But now, after one of the world’s most powerful individuals—U.S. President Trump and his family—has endorsed crypto and profited from the industry, the public has long since lost its idolization of celebrities in crypto.

Today, the crypto industry values what you can bring, not who you are. Fu Peng, who presents himself as an economist but is in fact an analyst who holds no positions and only engages in empty praise, is clearly not well regarded in the crypto industry.

In fact, Fu Peng has only one foot in the crypto industry, as he still analyzes crypto using his traditional finance framework, continues to serve traditional finance clients, and only recognizes the portion of the crypto industry that intersects with traditional finance. There remains a wall between him and the real crypto community, with each side looking down on the other—but Fu Peng doesn’t care, because none of us are his target clients.

Latest updates

According to crypto KOL Bitcoin Veteran, Fu Peng explained that Twitter is not operated by him personally, but rather outsourced to a third-party team, and he was completely unaware of the mass blocking of crypto KOLs. This again highlights the gap between Fu Peng, who comes from traditional finance, and the crypto industry—he prefers not to communicate directly with the crypto community. Of course, this might just be Fu Peng’s excuse to shift blame, possibly aiming to distance himself from his association with streamers.