THELOGICALINDIAN - Daniele Sestagallis acceptability has taken a hit over the aftermost anniversary added analysis into his accomplishments alone complicates affairs
Last week, it emerged that Daniele Sestagalli, the architect of several accepted DeFi protocols and de facto baton of the “Frog Nation,” had been acquainted that the treasury administrator of his Wonderland Money activity had patchy—indeed, criminal—history. On abutting inspection, it would assume that a cardinal of Sestagalli assembly accept had their allotment of run-ins with authorities.
An Admission
On Jan. 27, on-chain analyst and self-proclaimed detective operating beneath the pseudonym zachxbt fabricated a atrocious revelation on Twitter. In a alternation of screenshots that acceptation to appearance clandestine letters amid zachxbt and Daniele Sestagalli—the architect or key accessible amount abaft such DeFi phenomena as Abracadabra Money, Popsicle Finance, and the now deeply-beset Wonderland Money—in which Sestagalli appears to accomplish beauteous admission.
“I came beyond article rather odd about that,” writes zachbxt in the screenshot.
The response, purportedly from Sestagalli, came back: “About dubai?” they write.
“About Sifu,” zachbxt replied, apropos to Wonderland’s treasury manager.
“Oh sheet,” Sestagalli appears to reply, “What’s up[?]”
“Well,” writes zachbxt, “he’s the Quadriga guy.”
“Sestagalli” responds: “I cannot confirm,” he writes, afore continuing, “But I accept anticipation about this a lot.”
Fast advanced to a additional screenshot, and the amount zachbxt claims to be Sestagalli seems to all but affirm the suspicion: “yea is a botheration in the PR…” they write; “Alex my accomplice told me.”
Thus it was appear to the apple that the accurate character of Wonderland’s bearding treasury administrator 0xSifu was in actuality Michael Patryn, a consecutive scammer, above convict, and co-founder of burst Canadian cryptocurrency barter QuadrigaCX.
Fallout
The adumbration befuddled Wonderland’s contrarily upbeat and active association to its core.
QuadrigaCX fabricated all-around account in backward 2024 back its CEO Gerald Cotten allegedly died during a cruise in India, abrogation almost $169 actor acceptance to 115,000 chump algid wallets inaccessible.
Following the incident, the firm’s co-founder Michael Patryn was articular as Omar Dhanani, a consecutive bent who spent 18 months in U.S. federal bastille on cabal to accomplish credit-and-bank agenda fraud in 2005, and burglary, admirable larceny, and computer artifice in 2007.
To adumbrate his bent past, Dhanani afflicted his name twice; already from Omar Dhanani to Omar Patryn in 2024, and again from Omar Patryn to Michael Patryn in 2024. Following QuadrigaCX’s collapse, Patryn briefly vanished from the crypto scene—only to now accomplish a admirable acclamation as 0xSifu, the bearding administrator of Wonderland’s $700 actor treasury.
Following the disclosure, Sestagalli appear a statement confirming the allegations. “To abridge what has happened,” he wrote, “word came out that Sifu who has been active the Wonderland Treasury, ahead was a co-founder of QuadrigaCX, and has had added occurrences in the past.”
Instead of anon break himself from Patryn, Sestagalli accepted that he had accepted about his absolute character for about a ages and advisedly absitively adjoin catastrophe the relationship. “I begin out about this 1 ages ago,” Sestagalli admitted, adding, “I am of the assessment of giving additional chances, as I accept mentioned on Twitter.”
Judging by the comments beneath Sestagalli’s initial Twitter thread, this advance of activity didn’t book able-bodied with the Wonderland community. The account came amidst an advancing PR crisis for the project, whose built-in rebase token, TIME, was already trading at almanac lows and beneath its declared abetment price.
To accomplish things worse, an old interview from December 2020 in which Sestagalli briefly discusses the Quadriga adventure resurfaced and started circulating on Twitter. In it, Sestagalli jokingly said: “The Quadriga adventure will appear aback guys, I’m cogent you. Sooner or later, article will reappear on Quadriga.”
Despite this account acceptable actuality annihilation but an adverse best of words and authentic accompaniment apropos the contempo developments, it was abundant to activate an barrage of rumors and cabal theories apropos Sestagali’s accurate intention.
The TerraBitcoin Club
On the aforementioned day that zachxbt appear 0xSifu’s accurate identity, the Italian analytic announcer Nicola Borzi wrote a Twitter cilia and aggregate several screenshots of what appears to be a altercation apropos the $25 actor Popsicle Finance hack that happened on Aug. 4, 2021.
According to Borzi, the screenshots arise from a clandestine Telegram approach acceptance to an absolute club for mostly Italian crypto investors alleged TerraBitcoin, managed by Paolo Barrai, a man with acutely abysmal access central the Italian crypto community.
The screenshots appearance a affiliate application the alias “Merlin” saying:
“Bitfinex was afraid on Aug. 2, 2024. It seemed like the end of the world, but acknowledgment to the drudge we became stronger because abounding able bodies helped us and became our partners. Paolo was one of them. I met Daniele one year ago, Paolo alien us. Daniele has abundant talents, the adventuresomeness of a lion, and a big heart, I’m abiding he will administer to appear out of this barbarous moment alike stronger.”
Clarifying to the accumulation absolutely who the being abaft the Merlin username was, Barrai is apparent saying: “for those who didn’t get it we accept with us the acquaintance Giancarlo Devasini.” For the uninitiated, Giancarlo Devasini is the CFO of Bitfinex, already the better cryptocurrency barter in the apple and currently the issuer of the better stablecoin on the market, Tether.
Devasini has continued been accepted to accept the alias “Merlin” or “Merlin the Wizard” in abounding of his communications—they additionally serve as his Skype and Telegram handles. Coincidentally, one of Sestagalli’s DeFi projects, Abracadabra Money, makes again references to the aforementioned fabulous astrologer throughout their Medium posts and abstruse documents. The project’s amount Twitter account, which is allegedly operated jointly by the project’s development team—is dubbed 0xMerlin.eth.
To accomplish things alike added interesting, on December 8, an abominable Tether and Bitfinex analyzer activity beneath the username Bitfinex’ed on Twitter shared screenshots that arise to be from the aforementioned babble in TerraBitcoin’s Telegram group. There, Devasini is allegedly apparent absolute affairs for ablution a amalgam stablecoin advised to abstain the risks of captivation ample sums of USD by the end of the year.
Oddly enough, Sestagalli’s Abracadabra Money activity is aloof that. It’s a decentralized lending belvedere that uses interest-bearing tokens as accessory to excellent USD-pegged stablecoins called Magic Internet Money. Bitfinex was additionally the aboriginal centralized cryptocurrency barter to account MIM as a base currency.
Bitfinex’s abridgement of accuracy and acknowledged troubles are no secret. Only aftermost year, the captivation aggregation of Bitfinex and Tether, iFinex, accomplished a adjustment agreement with New York Attorney General Letitia James in which the aggregation was affected to cease operations in New York on the area that it had bamboozled audience by overstating affluence and ambuscade about $850 actor in losses.
(Interestingly enough, both QuadrigaCX and Bitfinex acclimated Crypto Capital Corp for their acquittal processing. Now defunct, Crypto Capital was a adumbration coffer for crypto companies run by Ivan Manuel Molina Lee. The Polish authorities arrested Lee on accusations of money bed-making and captivation with an all-embracing biologic bunch in 2019.)
Paulo Barrai, the banking adviser who allegedly alien Sestagalli to Devasini, additionally appears to accept had troubles with the law. In 2013, he was fined €70,000 by the Italian balance regulator Consob for breaking advance acknowledgment obligations.
The arrangement expands from there. Actuality the architect of TerraBitocoin, the “private and arcane club for chargeless bodies and investors,” Barrai is additionally in the business of acclimation crypto-focused conferences. In 2019, he organized a crypto conference in Lugano with seven speakers, one of them actuality Zhao Dong, architect of Chinese crypto barter Renrenbit and a ample actor in Bitfinex who, in March aftermost year, pleaded guilty to bed-making $480 actor for online casinos application cryptocurrency.
Another one of the speakers was Lars Schlichting, the CEO of Poseidon Group, a captivation aggregation authoritative Eidoo, a crypto startup founded by Natale Ferrara. Ferrara, in turn, is a co-founder of the crypto advance aggregation Blockchain Invest with Paolo Barrai.
Barrai’s Blockchain Invest is one of the companies that had invested in Zulu Republic, a bootless crypto startup co-founded by Sestagalli aback in 2016. Having allegedly accepted Sestagalli for a while, Barrai additionally arrive him to speak as an able on decentralized accounts at his 2021 appointment in Dubai.
The Camponovo Connection
Daniele Alekos Aldo Sestagalli aboriginal showed up in the crypto industry about aboriginal 2024 with his Zulu Republic blockchain project. Before acceptable Zulu Republic, the close was alleged Zulu Mobility Technologies, headquartered in Serafino Balestra 6 in Chiasso, Canton Ticino, Switzerland.
According to the Swiss Central Business Registry, Zulu Mobility Technologies was co-founded by Sestagalli, Oliver Camponovo, and Ibex Capital—an accounting close again endemic by Camponovo. The close was architecture a adaptable appliance that was declared to accommodate the auto account in Switzerland, commensurable to Uber.
According to a 2017 interview, Sestagalli met and partnered with Camponovo because he was an able in taxation and adventure capital. “I met Stefano Barone [another co-founder of Zulu], an archetype of a acknowledged administrator able of accustomed out projects to the end, and Oliver, an able in the apple of taxation and adventure capital. So we started,” Sestagalli told the LiberaTV newspaper.
Around the aforementioned time, in 2017, Camponovo was convicted in the aboriginal instance and bedevilled to three years in bastille for money laundering, adulteration of documents, and violations of the law on foreigners: artful the authorities in accepting abode permits. He was bedevilled forth with Giulio Martino, a baronial affiliate of Italy’s best belled abomination family, the ‘Ndrangheta, and the banking agent Franco Longo, dubbed the “mafia’s banker,” and bedevilled to bristles and a bisected years.
On Jan. 13, 2022, bristles years afterwards aboriginal actuality convicted, Camponovo was acquitted on the money bed-making accuse by Italy’s Court of Appeals. The case has been returned to the Criminal Court of the aboriginal instance so that Camponovo can be approved again, but alone for accessory offenses.
According to the federal prosecutor in allegation of the case, Camponovo was “the administrator of the bent action, which he himself had conceived and implemented, authoritative all his knowledge, ability and contacts with Swiss and all-embracing banks accessible to the bent association.”
As allotment of the “Renewal” operation, the Swiss authorities confiscated assorted properties, including an appointment architecture on the artery Via Giuseppe Motta 10 in Chiasso, endemic by Martino (50%), Long0 (40%), and Camponovo (10%). Coincidentally, several crypto firms had their address in the aforementioned building, including Natale Ferrara’s Eidoo, Poseidon Group portfolio aggregation Digital Identity, and Cryptolab AG, which owns Paolo Barrai’s crypto consultancy close BigBit. Camponovo’s aggregation Ibex Capital was additionally registered in the aforementioned building.
Interestingly, Zulu Republic isn’t the alone close that connects Sestagalli to Camponovo. According to Business Monitor data, Sestagalli is currently a decision-maker in three companies: Zulu Republic, DAAS, and DZent & Partner. Before affective from Via Serafino Balestra 6 in Chiasso (the aforementioned abode area Zulu was registered) to Zug, DAAS made Camponovo’s aggregation Ibex Services SA its “care of” postal recipient.
DZent & Partner, on the added hand, is a close that has Zulu Republic listed as a partner, Sestagalli as a CEO, and Anatol Lüthi as a Accomplice and Manager. Anatol Lüthi was a above CFO of Zulu Republic, one of the founding lath associates of Utopia Genesis Foundation, and sits on the lath of admiral on Ibex Services SA.
Utopia Genesis is a Switzerland-based aggregation alive to actualize a blockchain framework for the music industry. In 2021, Daniele Sestagalli became Utopia’s Chief Strategy Officer afterwards abrogation the bootless Zulu Republic project. This was, in fact, Sestagalli’s aftermost added “traditional” ambitious endeavor afore founding several almost ample protocols in decentralized finance.
The Company You Keep
Daniele Sestagalli congenital a name for himself in the decentralized accounts amplitude by, amid added things, affective a populist, anti-centralization, and anti-venture basic narrative. The Frog Nation’s accomplished cool is architecture DeFi that is anti-VC and “anti suits.” But anticipation by his accomplished actions, Sestagalli adopted that anecdotal alone recently. He allegedly had no botheration wearing a suit alone a few years ago while still actuality Zulu Republic’s CEO.
Furthermore, Sestagalli’s assurance to allocate a bedevilled consecutive bent with managing a $700 actor treasury—even afterwards award out his absolute identity—raised abounding eyebrows aural the community. On Sunday, he called for Wonderland to wind bottomward due to capacity in the community, admitting 55% of the TIME badge holders voting adjoin it.
Regardless of what happens to Wonderland, Sestagalli’s acceptability has taken a austere hit. His accomplished affiliations with individuals either declared to accept committed or bedevilled of banking crimes absolutely won’t advice deliver it.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the columnist of this affection captivated ETH and several added cryptocurrencies.
