TIME Tokens Tank as DeFi Project Reveals Ties With Failed Crypto Exchange Quadriga

According to a Bloomberg report on Jan. 28, the Wonderland DeFi project has been linked with Michael Patryn, the co-founder of the failed Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX.

The project’s treasury head going by the Twitter pseudonym ‘0xSifu’ was asked to step down by Wonderland co-founder Daniele Sestagalli. The decision came after an anonymous Twitter user revealed that ‘0xSifu’ was indeed the former boss of the failed crypto exchange.

The report added that Patryn, who had changed his name twice, spent 18 months in U.S. federal prison. In 2005, he was deported to Canada after pleading guilty to a string of offenses including credit and bank card fraud, burglary, grand larceny, and computer fraud.

1/ This needs to be shared @0xSifu is the Co-founder of QuadrigaCX, Michael Patryn. If you are unfamiliar that is the Canadian exchange that collapsed in 2019 after the founder Gerald Cotten disappeared with $169m

I have confirmed this with Daniele over messages. pic.twitter.com/qSfWNnQPhr

— zachxbt.eth (@zachxbt) January 27, 2022

Unraveling Identities

The Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX hit the news in 2018 when co-founder Gerald Cotton’s death unveiled a massive scam that caused around $133 million in losses for 76,000 investors.

Patryn was closely tied with Cotton in the early days of the exchange though the two parted ways in 2016. Bloomberg commented that this latest debacle highlights the headaches for the DeFi sector “which largely operates under a cloak of anonymity while facing increasing attention from regulators.”

Crypto podcaster Aaron Lammer said that Sestagalli was aware of ‘0xSifu’s’ identity which makes this even worse.

“Dani was aware that the person in charge of the treasury was a convicted financial criminal who spent time in prison.”

On Jan. 27 the project co-founder came clean stating “the past of an individual doesn’t determine their future,”

1/ Today allegations about our team member @0xSifu will circulate. I want everyone to know that I was aware of this and decided that the past of an individual doesn’t determine their future. I choose to value the time we spent together without knowing his past more than anything.

— Daniele never asks to DM (@danielesesta) January 27, 2022

By then it was too late and the project’s treasury and native token had started to collapse. The report added that a crypto wallet identified as belonging to Patryn began dumping various tokens on Thursday.

Wonderland Tokens Tank

The project’s native token TIME has crashed and burned over the past couple of days as investors rushed to liquidate. Since Wednesday, TIME prices have collapsed 60% from around $800 to $315 where they currently trade according to CoinGecko.

In early November, the token surged to an all-time high of around $10,000 but it has now crashed by 97% from those lofty levels. Wonderland is a decentralized reserve currency protocol running on the Avalanche network.