Tangent co-founder Darryl Wang responds to allegations of fraud and insider trading

Darryl Wang, the co-founder of Tangent Ventures, has responded to allegations of fraud and insider trading that were made against him by user @MiyaHedge on the X platform. Wang admitted that the @0xENAS Twitter account is his personal account, but he denied the allegations that he sold undisclosed VC quotas, pumped up shipments, charged for publicity, and falsified transaction records.

Well-known trader Darryl Wang, also known as @0xWangarian, has responded to recent allegations that he used his personal trading account, @0xENAS, to engage in various illegal activities, such as selling undisclosed VC quotas, pumping up shipments, charging for publicity, and falsifying transaction records.

In a lengthy article published on January 16, Darryl refuted these claims and clarified his involvement in Tangent's angel investments. Here's a summary of his key points:

1. Opening an anonymous account for security reasons:

Darryl created the Eugene Ng Ah Sio (@0xENAS) account to fulfill a personal challenge and make his trading gains and losses transparent without being influenced by preconceived notions or elitism.

However, he chose not to disclose his identity for personal safety reasons, given the risks involved in publicizing large transactions and exposing himself to the public eye, especially regarding security concerns.

As his fans continued to grow, he set the initially public API to private and shifted his content to sharing trading strategies and monthly summaries.

Now, because of the "human flesh search" and some false but provocative accusations, his personal privacy and the safety of those around him are threatened. Darryl can no longer operate the account anonymously, so he decided to respond positively to the community's accusations.

2. Clarification on the Secret Sale of VC Token Allocations:

Only 2 of the tokens traded by individuals overlap with Tangent’s angel investments

Darryl stated that Eugene's account was managed by him alone and had nothing to do with Tangent's angel investment.

Jason, the partner in charge of angel investment, had no control over his transactions and tweets.

Of the 100+ tokens Eugene has posted trading on since the account was created, only 2 happened to overlap with Tangent’s angel investments, but extra care is taken to ensure that whenever information about token prices is posted on Eugene’s account, it does not have any impact on any angel investments.

The Ethena team also does not know Eugene's true identity

Regarding the recent allegations that it exited an undisclosed VC angel investment and disguised it as a liquid position that Eugene did not actually establish. Darryl stated that neither he nor Tangent exited any part of these investments.

Tangent partner Jason met with Ethena's founders in mid-2023, and Tangent's angel investment department invested in Ethena in July 2023 and then again in February 2024. These investments come with multi-year lock-up periods and are publicly traceable. Given that all private placement investments are locked up, Tangent cannot sell any angel round quotas, so Darryl stated that any allegations of selling tokens are not only fabricated, but also functionally impossible.

In the third quarter of 2024, the Eugene account published an article about the liquidity advantages of ENA. Darryl stated that he had clearly stated in the article that he had gone long on ENA, but in order not to expose his identity, he did not make any comments or statements about Tangent's angel investment in the article.

The Ethena team also does not know the true identity behind Eugene and did not participate in the creation of the article. All the information provided in the article is publicly available and can be verified by anyone. Darryl said that the article clearly shows how he thinks about the problem from a liquidity perspective, and even outlines the main risks that Ethena faces from VC unlocking starting in April 2025.

Tangent has not exited any of its angel investments in Ethena

Darryl stated that he established a position that is about 100 times the amount of Tangent's investment in the angel investment stage. At the time of article publication, ENA price was $0.28. Today, its price has risen to $0.90, about three times the price at the time of article publication.

At the same time, Darryl said that the entire article is about the liquidity position he established independently. From the time the article was published to today, Tangent has not withdrawn from any angel investment in Ethena.

When Jason quoted Eugene's tweet, he fully disclosed Tangent's position on Ethena, but Darryl asked not to publish his real identity for the sake of privacy. At the same time, Darryl said that in hindsight, this was a wrong judgment and he deeply apologized for any deliberate distortion of the facts.

In Eugene’s tweet about the token SEI, Darryl stated that it was last mentioned in a LTF deal setup in December 2023, with the earliest VC unlock occurring nine months later in August 2024.

3. Only tweet about tokens that follow their principles:

As the Eugene account gained more and more followers, Darryl said he followed two guidelines when posting tweets about tokens through the account