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The uncertainty behind FlaSh's Return; In-depth

Forum Index > BW General
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jinjin5000
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1422 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-04-06 07:02:47
March 16 2023 01:22 GMT
#1
as some of you may know, there is a lot of uncertainty behind FlaSh returning to StarCraft scene after his discharge from army.

FlaSh was discharged back in 2/05/2023, but it's been more than a month with absolutely 0 news on his return at all. To know reason behind that, you need to know the background behind his scandal

====
**Background**
====
As some of you may know, his trouble came from his Crypto Scandal, which is shown here: https://tl.net/forum/brood-war/574711-flashs-crypto-scandal

But a lot of people seem to have wrong idea what happened, even those very invested in Korean scene, so I will explain it here

1.FlaSh's Crypto Background

+ Show Spoiler +
First of all, FlaSh was very well known/respected among streamers on his cryptocurrency acuity. He has made a fortune for himself investing into crypto pre-covid years and was well known to point a lot of streamers sought after his advice on investing. However, FlaSh has always kept quiet about his financial gains or success to non-streaming sphere and kept it always to himself in public. Here is video relevant to this topic where he denies his gains

It was rumored through grapevine from various streamers gossips/small talks that FlaSh made well over $30-40m USD worth with his crypto investment (pre crypto scandal), and the video above admits that he made $6m usd on one crypto investment alone.


2.Introduction of donator, Suit

+ Show Spoiler +
Suit came into picture with financial power. He was a well known huge donator to various streamers, and was in close contact to many streamers to do collab streamers together and gifting them luxury goods (watches, gucci bags, ect) as well as money. He was particularly close to FlaSh and he and FlaSh had many streams together, especially towards end where he was about to leave for military

[image loading]

Suit was head of company named Global Order and he was reputable with giving donations to various university and likes. So people assumed he was a figure that wanted to give back to community
.

3. FlaSh opening up to public about cryptocurrency


+ Show Spoiler +
Before FlaSh went to military, FlaSh began a new chapter in him opening up to public about cryptocurrency. He began to be lot more open to public stream viewers about his involvement with crypto scene and his success he found in it. He even gave interview right before he went to military talking about how close he was with Suit to point they were neighbors.

Before he went to army, he did few promotion videos on Suit's company (named Global Order), as well as becoming representative of Foblgate, a blockchain trading firm. This was all very new since FlaSh never really was open about any non-progaming financial gains beforehand, limiting it to talking about his progaming days. Previously, he even really kept his ad-banners on his stream mostly limited to his family's relative's company and such and previously was focused very much on keeping his image as "professional and humble".

He went on and did collab stream with Britney, Gamst, Suit (Britney & Gamst being one of biggest streamers on Afreeca, regularly drawing 40-100k+ viewers), where they talked about money, which was odd since FlaSh wasn't type before to open up publicly about this.

[image loading]

Here is excerpt from his stream, which was promptly deleted few days later.

FlaSh: I made more in 1 month investing in crypto than I did in 10 years. I invested in bunch of places..."
Britney: They all rose?
FlaSh: yup
Britney: Sigh... I need to save up money. I made 4m+ usd streaming, but all I have is 500k saved up"
Gamst: Yea, my goal is hit 3m USD this year
Britney: Man, Suit must be laughing at us thinking "just 4m-5m?" lol.
Suit: naw, not at all
Britney: I'm curious. Do rich people invest in crypto as well?
Suit: Not me. Only people who become rich through crypto continue with it. I know my area of expertise but that's not crypto. Seems risky to be involved.


But this behavior by itself wasn't anything to be concerned about. Unusual, but not alarming, but...


4.Suit's Cryptocurrency & Scandal


+ Show Spoiler +
Suit's company, named Global Order, had a project going where they planned to launch a [start-up cryptocurrency platform called T.O coin

[image loading]

As you can see from picture, it was very ambitious with it planning to give users many sign-up perks and public usage accessibility, as well as trading platform to trade in different cryptocurrencies including T.O coin.

People were investigating some other scandal from another streamer when they discovered that the said streamer and Suit were linked together suspiciously. This lead to chain of events where people discovered eventually that tons of social media influencers were involved his startup cryptocurrency start-up undisclosed to public. FlaSh had $228k USD investment in it, along with Sea, Guemchi, Britney, ect.

[image loading]

This of course, implies that said influencers were encouraged to promote it without disclosing their investment involvement. But we don't know if they intended to disclose yet

Upon discovering this, what people previously thought was innocuous large donation from suit suddenly became a lot more suspicious, and people began to accuse Suit of these not being simple donation as a big fan, but a business venture instead

On top of that, FlaSh was discovered to have been introduced to company named Chainstry through Suit as well....


5.Disasterous apology & explanation videos


+ Show Spoiler +
As you can read on FlaSh and Bisu's announcement, their admitting to their involvement with T.O coin was nothing but disasters, with them dealing with it as bad as you can get, with Bisu trying to deny his involvement then getting caught being in investment list, and FlaSh blaming his mom, ect.

FlaSh was then revealed to be pretty involved with promoting T.O coin among streamers himself, with his previous reputation being very famous among streamers for his crypto advice even before this crypto incident. Britney admitted that he was introduced to T.O coin by FlaSh himself during his apology video. Bisu admitted this as well

T.O coin was then promptly cancelled even before launch despite being close to launch due to heavy media focus and general image damage.


===
Current events
===

+ Show Spoiler +
Since the Crypto scandal, all of the influencers involved have all returned to streaming except FlaSh. For Britney and Sea, they even gained viewers through popularity of SC university content on top of not taking as much damage as they were pretty scandals-heavy even before cryptocurrency.

However, bigger damage would be to streamers who focused on keeping their PR clean & professional like FlaSh and Bisu. Bisu has since then lost sizable part of his viewerbase, with him only really retaining 30-50% of his previous viewercount pre crypto scandal.

FlaSh previously planned his triumphant return on 2/05/2023, which spells out his name (205=Lee Young Ho). However, it was derailed by crypto-scandal, which led him to become radio silent to this day. He has not yet posted anything public since his announcements nearly 2 years ago.

Crypto incident was pretty big damage to his image and people are wondering if he will come back at all. It's speculated in korean community he's either taking break after coming back from army, coming back next asl or never returning at all. But he's very strange there has been absolutely nothing from his side as most people at least make announcement for remaining fans waiting.

FlaSh almost certainly doesn't have much financial incentive to return due to him being well off even before he went to army (well-off family, significant income from streaming, crypto gains from investing, ect), but he does leave a lot of his BW fans hanging with this.

In end of day, biggest damage to FlaSh is to his reputation that he worked so carefully to build up over the years. Whether it determines his return is up for air


===
tl;dr
===
1) Donator named Suit begins to donate a lot and hang with flash

2) flash becomes head of various crypto-related company PR rep

3) contract leaked, FlaSh & other influencers revealed to be involved in Suit's coin startup pre-launch in secret

4) implied Crypto pump and dump NEVER HAPPENED. Launch itself was stopped due to heavy media focus and criticism

5) no news from FlaSh ever since then.




link to script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oVURCMnCAJHiL2IJXWEJrX79iYnUENjiPtcKDzanMuI/edit?usp=sharing
Zealgoon
Profile Joined January 2013
China187 Posts
March 16 2023 02:08 GMT
#2
Who the hell would want to have anything to do with a company called Global Order?

Interesting read, thanks. Still hope Flash comes back eventually, never was a big fan of him even before the scandal but the competition isn't the same without him.
tankgirl
Profile Blog Joined May 2016
Canada407 Posts
March 16 2023 02:39 GMT
#3
you can take the tiger out of the jungle, but you cant take the jungle out of the tiger

he'll be back eventually
https://tl.net/forum/brood-war/627255-progamer-settings
TL+ Member
Peeano
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Netherlands4987 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 04:42:24
March 16 2023 04:40 GMT
#4
At least he destroyed everyone in 2009 unlike some other dude /s

Thanks for putting this all together. It makes it so much easier to grasp the whole coin thing.

It's a shame Flash fell victim to his own greed. He should have known better, but I imagine Suit's presence and actions overruled Flash's conscience or worse: Flash was further maneuvered into this position through manipulation/blackmailing.

It's rather strange there is literally no news on him since his military discharge.
I can't imagine being the GOAT and quite abruptly not being able to compete anymore.
No amount of fuck-you-money will sweeten that compunction. I can't help but feel like there is something really fishy going on here. If Bisu returned, why can't/won't Flash?
FBH #1!
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33357 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 05:48:58
March 16 2023 05:48 GMT
#5
The most mind-blowing thing about Korean media consumption compared to the USA is how mid-size scandals can actually inflict severe and long-lasting damage to viewership. Stuff that's a minor PR speedbump in the states could destroy someone's career in Korea if it picked up momentum.
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
jinjin5000
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1422 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 06:38:10
March 16 2023 06:10 GMT
#6
On March 16 2023 14:48 Waxangel wrote:
The most mind-blowing thing about Korean media consumption compared to the USA is how mid-size scandals can actually inflict severe and long-lasting damage to viewership. Stuff that's a minor PR speedbump in the states could destroy someone's career in Korea if it picked up momentum.


outrage optimized.

One sticks and people want it to stick a lot of times.
A lot of internet communities seem to be desperate for outrage. An example would be YouTuber Seungwooappa getting in some tremendously minor scandals(?) all the time for tiny things he does and people seem to be desperate to be mad

honestly, if FlaSh just handled his announcements well when this scandal came out, think he would have been fine. Just that dumpster fire of announcement just solidified his image
hwjdts224
Profile Joined November 2022
13 Posts
March 16 2023 07:44 GMT
#7
who needs these thugs anyways?
Zografa
Profile Joined February 2023
177 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 09:45:37
March 16 2023 09:39 GMT
#8
So to sum it up - Flash participated in a some sort of a scam and was about to scam other people, you claim that he is super smart and made millions in crypto, while making good decisions, but he could not see the scam that he is about to participate in.

Stuff goes public somehow and he backs off and claims to not have the slightest clue that he was about to participate in a ponzi/pnd/scam and his mother made him do it.

I mean ok...

M3t4PhYzX
Profile Joined March 2019
Poland4187 Posts
March 16 2023 09:49 GMT
#9
Korean BW tournaments are much more interesting without him anways, imo.
odi profanum vulgus et arceo
Zergiica
Profile Joined October 2015
Croatia125 Posts
March 16 2023 10:08 GMT
#10
now i see him as a bigger goat then before. that "scandal" aside, flash is a millionaire and he is from rich family so he played BW because of love and he is/was so great in it, wow.
Akio
Profile Blog Joined January 2019
Finland1838 Posts
March 16 2023 11:46 GMT
#11
Global Order sounds like the blog name of an evangelical preacher from Utah predicting the end times
Mine gas, build tanks.
[sc1f]eonzerg
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Belgium6564 Posts
March 16 2023 12:35 GMT
#12
Knowing korean exagerations of things. FlaSh is taking a break after 2 years military. I remember Flash mention before doing his debut on Afreeca he was talking to celebrities to teach him the basics . There is a big chance FlaSh is atm with a team that deal with scandals making the best strategy for his return. in 1-2 months he will be around again.
JoinTheRain
Profile Blog Joined September 2018
Bulgaria408 Posts
March 16 2023 12:55 GMT
#13
I for sure am not going to miss this pathetic scammer and I think the scene is better off without him, he's too compromised and dirty now, I think. Also, Flash is gone for two years now and I don't see Bw becoming boring. Thus I sincerely hope he never shows up although I doubt it, I feel like his greed for attention will prevail. What's worse, I'm convinced he will be warmly embraced if he decides to become active again. Yet I can never bring myself to like him again. Before the crypto crap he was likable, now to me he's just repulsive.
The subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.
Lorch
Profile Joined June 2011
Germany3679 Posts
March 16 2023 13:34 GMT
#14
Eh Sea and Bisu were involved as well and came back just fine.
Biggest part about this "scandal" is that no one actually lost any money, so it's quite odd that people make such a big deal out of it.
We're all lucky to be alive at a time where we can watch Flash play Starcraft. I pray that we'll get to see his art again soon.
TMNT
Profile Joined January 2021
2671 Posts
March 16 2023 14:10 GMT
#15
Did Bisu actually lose 50-70% of his viewership though? I think he's on similar number of live viewers compared to pre-scandal.

He's #7 on balloon donations in 2022 among BW streamers, and when you remove Britney Sea Calm Terror who are not competitive players, he's #2, only behind Shuttle and tie with JD (and Shuttle does theatrical stuff as well). Not bad for losing 50-70% viewership eh?

Long story short, I don't think losing viewers (if actually there is any loses) is a concern for Flash.
Holint_Casazr
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
Germany72 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 15:10:14
March 16 2023 15:10 GMT
#16
Thanks for the perspective/insight into the screne jinjin.
Nirli
Profile Joined February 2023
Bulgaria367 Posts
Last Edited: 2023-03-16 15:56:41
March 16 2023 15:54 GMT
#17
If you're looking up to Flash for anything besides BW and dubious 14 CC openings, you're doing something wrong.

Any game would benefit if its best player still played it.


Crypto is the new NFT.
CHEONSOYUN
Profile Joined August 2017
519 Posts
March 16 2023 16:38 GMT
#18
On March 16 2023 22:34 Lorch wrote:
Biggest part about this "scandal" is that no one actually lost any money, so it's quite odd that people make such a big deal out of it.


Conjecture or ignorance.

Grifting in S Korea is an age-old story.
JAEDONG...!!! EFFORT IS ANGRY. ZERG...?!
Salazarz
Profile Blog Joined April 2012
Korea (South)2591 Posts
March 16 2023 17:23 GMT
#19
On March 16 2023 19:08 Zergiica wrote:
now i see him as a bigger goat then before. that "scandal" aside, flash is a millionaire and he is from rich family so he played BW because of love and he is/was so great in it, wow.


Yeah mate, me too; I always respect people born into comfort and riches way more than those dirty poors.
prosatan
Profile Joined September 2009
Romania7995 Posts
March 16 2023 17:24 GMT
#20
On March 17 2023 00:54 Nirli wrote:
If you're looking up to Flash for anything besides BW and dubious 14 CC openings, you're doing something wrong.

Any game would benefit if its best player still played it.


Crypto is the new NFT.

+1 Nirli !
Lee JaeDong Fighting! The only church that illuminates is the one that burns.
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