According to CoinMeta, Lu Qi, the founder of Qizhi Chuangtan, responded to the U.S. sanctions by stating that the U.S. Treasury Department included some of his entities on the sanctions list without prior communication. The company explicitly denied investing in Shanghai Zhisuan Technology and stated that it is in communication with relevant parties, hoping to have the sanctions lifted as soon as possible. On October 19th, the U.S. State Department mentioned that former Google engineer Ding Linwei participated in Qizhi Chuangtan's startup camp with Shanghai Zhisuan Technology, and Qizhi Chuangtan provided them with seed funding and acquired equity in the company. A ruling from a California federal court shows that Ding Linwei joined Qizhi Chuangtan's startup camp in August 2023 and received 5 million RMB in financing from the company's investment department, which corresponded to 7% equity in Shanghai Zhisuan Technology.