Jia Yueting raises 290 million yuan to bet on cryptocurrency

# 21st Century Business Herald  

Reporter | Han Liming  

Editor | Ji Yuanyuan  

Recently, biopharmaceutical company Qualigen Therapeutics (NASDAQ: QLGN) disclosed that Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. ("Faraday Future", NASDAQ: FFAI) has signed a private investment in public equity (PIPE) securities purchase agreement with it regarding common stocks and preferred stocks. This cooperation involves plans for businesses related to cryptocurrency and Web3 (the third generation of the Internet, a decentralized Internet based on blockchain technology).  

According to the disclosure, the financing scale of this round is approximately USD 41 million (equivalent to about RMB 290 million), led by Faraday Future and its founder & Global Co-CEO Jia Yueting. Other investors include the SIGN Foundation—a blockchain technology company supported by Binance Labs, Sequoia Capital, IDG, and Circle. Jerry Wang, President of Faraday Future, also participated in this financing.  

Under the terms of the agreement, subject to the satisfaction of closing conditions, Faraday Future will invest approximately USD 30 million in Qualigen at an effective price of USD 2.246 per share, corresponding to beneficial ownership of approximately 55% of Qualigen’s outstanding common stocks. In addition, Jia Yueting plans to make a personal investment of approximately USD 4 million, corresponding to ownership of about 7% of Qualigen’s common stocks. As a cornerstone investor, Jia Yueting also agreed to set a two-year lock-up period for his personal investment.  

*Image Source: Official Website of Qualigen Therapeutics*  

Regarding Faraday Future’s "cross-sector" investment in a biopharmaceutical company, an industry insider analyzed to the reporter of 21st Century Business Herald that after Jia Yueting invests in Qualigen this time, he intends to rename the company CXC10 and transform it to focus on cryptocurrency and Web3 businesses. "Judging from Qualigen’s current situation, its biopharmaceutical business is small in scale, its core product pipeline is in the early stage, and it has faced delisting risks on multiple occasions. The existing pipeline may be sold or have its development terminated."  

In recent days, Jia Yueting has also posted multiple times on Weibo to clearly state that Qualigen will be renamed CXC10. "C, X, and C10 respectively represent the three core pillars driving the company’s business. The first 'C' stands for the Crypto (cryptocurrency) ecosystem token (a digital equity certificate issued based on blockchain technology, which can represent assets, rights and interests, etc.) system; 'X' represents the parent exchange DeAI Agent (decentralized artificial intelligence agent exchange); and 'C10' represents the value cornerstone. Next, CXC10 will fully focus on the Crypto 'three-pillar' business and Web3 ecosystem development, with the goal of becoming the first US-listed stock integrating Web2+Web3 and AI+Crypto."  

"After the investment is completed, FFAI and I will collectively hold 62% of QLGN’s shares. The above shareholding percentages are calculated based on the number of outstanding shares on the pricing date and also reflect the potential impact of this transaction," Jia Yueting stated in the post. "At the same time, FFAI will gradually send relevant management personnel to take charge of business operations. I will be appointed as the company’s Chief Advisor, and Jerry Wang, Global President of FF, will serve as the company’s Co-CEO (Co-Chief Executive Officer). After the completion of this transaction, FF will have the right to nominate candidates for two of the five independent director seats. After approval by the shareholders’ meeting, it will have the right to nominate candidates for four of the seven seats, and currently, most shareholders have signed voting support agreements."  

It can be seen from this that Qualigen, which previously focused on developing orphan drug-qualified treatments for adult and pediatric cancers, may divest its existing pharmaceutical R&D business and transform to focus on cryptocurrency and Web3-related businesses. However, the reporter of 21st Century Business Herald noticed that Jia Yueting has also invested in the healthcare industry before.  

Public data shows that as early as June 2015, Leshi Internet Information & Technology Corp., Ltd. (led by Jia Yueting) signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with Shanghai Kingsoft Healthcare Technology Co., Ltd. It is understood that Kingsoft Healthcare is a software enterprise mainly engaged in the R&D, sales, and technical services of application software in the medical and health field, and provides overall solutions for the informatization of the medical and health industry.  

According to the cooperation plan at that time, Leshi Internet and Kingsoft Healthcare established a strategic cooperative relationship to jointly build a new health service business and its ecosystem with the "platform + content + terminal + application" model, which conforms to the characteristics of the health service industry and the medical and health industry. It targets the C-end (patients, the public, doctors, nurses, etc.), connects the B-end (hospitals, health institutions, etc.), and integrates online and offline services. However, from the subsequent public information, no more substantive progress of this strategic cooperation has been disclosed.  

Regarding this strategic investment by Jia Yueting’s side, Kevin Richardson, CEO of Qualigen, stated publicly, "This is a very exciting day for all stakeholders of Qualigen. The company will embrace the new economy and technologies that will reshape the future. The board of directors has unanimously voted to advance this transformative transaction and support the leadership that Faraday Future brings to our company."  

In fact, Qualigen has long been on the verge of delisting risks in recent years. On May 23, 2024, the company issued an announcement stating that because the closing price of its common stocks had been below USD 1.00 per share for 30 consecutive trading days, it no longer met the minimum stock price requirement for listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market and officially received a written delisting notice from NASDAQ.  

Under the pressure of delisting, Qualigen experienced a major personnel upheaval in September of the same year. On September 26, Michael Poirier submitted his resignation to the company’s board of directors, deciding to step down as CEO and Chairman of the Board, effective immediately; on the same day, Christopher Lotz, CFO, also resigned, with immediate effect. The reason for both resignations was disagreements with the company on its future development direction and strategic initiatives.  

Qualigen also quickly filled the personnel vacancies. On September 25, 2024, the board of directors appointed Campbell Becher as the company’s President, effective immediately; on September 26, it appointed Kevin Richardson as Interim CEO, Interim CFO, and member of the board of directors. Public information shows that Kevin Richardson has rich experience in leading multiple small-cap companies in formulating strategies and achieving turnaround from losses to profits.  

However, the personnel adjustment did not reverse the company’s difficulties, and Qualigen’s operations have not achieved substantive breakthroughs in the past year. According to its official website, on May 19, 2025, the company received an expected deficiency notice from the NASDAQ Stock Market, which pointed out that the NASDAQ Hearing Panel will list the company’s failure to submit the relevant report for the first quarter of 2025 on time as an additional basis for delisting its securities from NASDAQ.  

In addition, the progress of Qualigen’s core business is also slow. As can be seen from its official website, the company’s core therapeutic product pipeline focuses on rare tumor indications. Currently, the projects under active development include QN-302 and Pan-RAS. Among them, QN-302 is still in the Phase 1 clinical trial stage, while Pan-RAS remains in the lead optimization stage.  

It should be acknowledged that the biopharmaceutical industry has always been characterized by long R&D cycles, high investment costs, and high failure risks. Amid multiple predicaments, whether Faraday Future’s strategic investment will bring new variables to Qualigen remains to be observed over time. However, the capital market has already responded. As of September 19, 2025, Qualigen’s closing price was USD 2.84, with a total market value of USD 4.8151 million.  

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