Wright Thurston
Founder of Green United, which the SEC says raised ~$18M on a fake 'GREEN' mining story. He pre-minted GREEN as an ERC-20 token and sold 'Green Boxes' that actually mined Bitcoin kept by the company. Charged by the SEC for fraud and registration violations.
Also known as: Wright W. Thurston
Note: The SEC's allegations against Thurston have not been adjudicated.
Bio
Wright W. Thurston founded Green United (Utah) and, per the SEC, orchestrated the sale of "Green Boxes"/"Green Nodes" on the false premise that they mined a GREEN token — which he had actually created as a pre-minted ERC-20 token and distributed to fake the appearance of mining. The boxes mined Bitcoin that was not passed to investors. [1][2]
Status
The SEC charged Thurston with antifraud and registration violations in March 2023; the litigation has continued. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
