- The treasurer of DeFi project Wonderland has been unmasked as Michael Patryn
- Patryn co-founded the scandal-hit former crypto exchange QuadrigaCX and is a convicted fraudster
- Patryn is therefore the man at the heart of an $8.4 Million TIME token treasury withdrawal
QuadrigaCX co-founder Michael Patryn has been unmasked as the Wonderland treasurer accused of taking $8.4 million worth of the project’s TIME tokens, a revelation that has threatened a potential collaboration between Wonderland and Abracadabra Money. Self-styled Twitter ‘on-chain sleuth’ @zachxbt revealed today that the man behind the username @0xSifu, whose wallet was recently involved in transfers of Wonderland’s TIME coins from the treasury, is none other than the QuadrigaCX co-founder who changed his name after being imprisoned for fraud in the 2000s.
Patryn Involved in $8.4 Million TIME Treasury Transfer
@zachxbt posted a tweet thread confirming that @0xSifu is the Twitter handle for Patryn, although didn’t state how he had discovered this. However, given his track record for identifying wrongdoers in the crypto space it’s a safe bet that this is an accurate reveal.
@zachxbt posted a conversation with Wonderland and Abracadabra Money leader Daniele Sestagalli, who seemed more unsettled with the fact that Patryn’s identity had been uncovered than the background of the man himself:
2/ Prior to Quadriga, Michael helped run a identity theft ring called shadowcrew in which he later plead guilty to
While Dani insists it is fine he puts both his rep on the line along with most importantly all the money people have deposited in his protocols at risk pic.twitter.com/j3fqOn7Bs3
— zach (@zachxbt) January 27, 2022
Wonderland has been the subject of intense speculation in the last two weeks following unusual activity with the project’s treasury wallets and its treasurer, who we now know to be Patryn.
On January 15, 4,250 TIME tokens, worth $8.4 million at the time, were transferred from the Wonderland treasury to Patryn’s private wallet, which were then added to his collateral at Abracadabra and used to prevent a possible liquidation. According to a Twitter thread on the matter, this was not a malicious act and was instead in line with the plans made for team tokens:
Two days after the transfer, TIME crashed 56% within six days, but the behaviour was defended by Sestagalli:
/8 What does Mr. @danielesesta think?
”Whoever fud about payments you think we’re so stupid to send ourselves the money on-chain”
“They’re all fucking police inspectors uncovering a BIG SCAM”
Btw.
Daniele has made an invitation for the FUDSTERS to inspect his fucking balls. pic.twitter.com/oN4QIi8bKP
— The DeFi Edge 🐸✊ (@thedefiedge) January 19, 2022
However, with the revelation that it was in fact convicted fraudster Patryn who was moving the money around, things are suddenly a little more contentious, as @zachxbt noted:
3/ I never would have expected this but can not sit on it any longer especially after the events experienced earlier this week with TIME.
— zach (@zachxbt) January 27, 2022
Has the Leopard Changed its Spots?
Patryn joined Cotten in the creation of QuadrigaCX in 2013, five years after being deported to Canada from the U.S. following an 18-month spell in prison for helping to run Shadowcrew, a bank-and-credit card identity scam. He left QuadrigaCX in 2016, three years before the exchange closed when Cotten allegedly died with the exchange insolvent and its crypto vaults empty.
Of course there is no saying that Patryn is involved in more shady practises with Wonderland, but with his history and the recent episode involving the TIME tokens, it’s a good idea to keep the idiom ‘caveat emptor’ to mind.
