- Blockchain logistics firm TradeWindow is exploring legal action against nChain after the company failed to make a share buyout payment
- TradeWindow was expecting $1.43 million in return for the first 6 million shares, but the payment hasn’t arrived
- nChain has been in turmoil after its board was decimated and key decision makers left or were fired on Friday
Blockchain logistics firm TradeWindow has threatened to take legal action against the troubled nChain group after nChain failed to stump up the first payment of a NZ$11.1 million (US$6.58 million) investment. nChain announced in March that it had acquired a 19.99% stake in Tradewindow, but the first payment for the shares hasn’t arrived, and with half the nChain board either sacked or having quit on Friday following accusations of fraud and the influence of shadow directors, TradeWindow has threatened legal action. In the meantime, nChain has been busy changing details in its press release over the deal to remove the name of the former CEO and replace it with the new one, adding insult to injury.
nChain in Turmoil
nChain has been in turmoil since Friday when its board was decimated following accusations from then-CEO Christen Ager-Hanssen of “a conspiracy to defraud nChain shareholders orchestrated by a significant shareholder”. It’s still not exactly clear what took place last week, but Ager-Hanssen presented a whistleblowing report to the nChain board over his concerns about how the company was operating, which included a claim that nChain’s Chief Scientist, Craig Wright, used the nChain offices to create fraudulent documents to try and boost his Satoshi Nakamoto connection.
Ager-Hanssen added that he made several recommendations to the board, including sacking Wright, but the board didn’t oblige, leaving his position “untenable”. This, however, is not nChain’s position, with the company saying that he was fired:
Prior to the Board acting on the investigation’s conclusions, on September 27 Mr. Ager Hanssen conducted himself in a serious and inappropriate manner which prompted the decision to dismiss Mr. Ager-Hanssen with immediate effect. This was communicated to Mr. Ager-Hanssen the same day.
Ager-Hanssen spent the weekend railing against the company, Craig Wright, and Calvin Ayre, the man he says was pulling the strings but has now taken full control, while Ayre’s outlet Coingeek has been removing all mentions of Ager-Hanssen from its new stories. nChain and Craig Wright both claim that Wright wasn’t fired, with Wright claiming that he “decided it was not necessary to hold an official role with nChain,”,right at a time when a highly critical report about him had come out.
TradeWindow Lawyers Up
TradeWindow, meanwhile, had been expecting its new investor to pay for the 28 million shares it wanted, with nChain agreeing to pay NZ$2.39 million (US$1.43 million) in exchange for the first 6 million, but it hasn’t paid up, leaving TradeWindow high and dry:
The failure of nChain to settle the cash subscription payment has triggered an event of review under TradeWindow’s bank facility agreements and TradeWindow will engage its financier immediately to seek a waiver of the review event.
The company has hired legal representation over nChain’s non-payment and will seek advice over whether nChain has breached its contract, with the company noting that it doesn’t expect much to change once the dust has settled:
During the course of Friday evening and over the weekend, it became apparent to TradeWindow that following board and management changes at nChain, the UK company is currently not in a position to make payment of the cash subscription amount as scheduled under the strategic partnership agreement.
It’s pretty clear what nChain was doing instead of paying TradeWindow: it was editing preexisting press releases to remove all mention of Ager-Hanssen. The PR announcing the deal in March contained a quote from Ager-Hanssen, but this was changed over the weekend to remove all references of him and replace them with a quote from the new CEO: Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre’s long-time associate, Stefan Matthews:
Clearly, something is seriously wrong at nChain, and with TradeWindow now threatening legal action as well as the company deciding that erasing history is the best way to make itself look like a legitimate business, the future looks pretty bleak, for nChain and for Wright.
