Creator of DeFi Project Wonderland Unmasked as QuadrigaCX Co-founder

The co-founder of Avalanche-based project Wonderland has allegedly been identified as Michael Patryn, a co-founder of the now-defunct Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCx. The exchange came under scrutiny after $250 million of investors’ funds became inaccessible following the death of the other co-founder Gerard Cotton. Patryn also reportedly has an extensive criminal history and his involvement in a high-profile DeFi project has raised eyebrows.

A History of Criminal Involvement

A Twitter user known as Zach has released conversations held with Wonderland co-founder Daniele Sestagalli regarding the identity of the latter’s partner known as 0xSifu. According to the thread posted by the self-acclaimed on-chain sleuth on Thursday, January 27, 2022, 0xSifu is allegedly one Michael Patryn, the co-founder of defunct Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX.

Patryn reportedly has connections to a plethora of criminal cases across multiple jurisdictions. The co-founder purportedly pleaded guilty to running a notorious platform called shadowcrew.com, known for trafficking stolen credit card information in 2002. Patryn also allegedly admitted his involvement in several computer fraud and burglary-related cases.

Furthermore, Bloomberg reported that Patryn received an 18 months sentence for identity theft and credit card fraud back in 2005 from a U.S. court. Other reports suggest that the QuadrigaCX co-founder changed his legal name on two separate occasions in 2003 and 2008.

Wonderland co-founder Sestagalli has commented on the issue and confirmed that the conversation released by Zach is authentic. Sestagalli, however, did not say if 0xSifu is indeed Michael Patryn and only alluded to the latter’s questionable past.

Sestagalli added that previous dealings should not solely determine an individual’s future. An excerpt from his thread reads:

“One of the reasons why blockchain technology and DeFi is so powerful is that has no bias about your past. I have no bias about @0xSifu he has become a friend and part of my family and if my reputation of judgment will be hit by his dox then be it. All frogs for me are equal.”

Are Funds ‘Sifu?’

In addition, another Twitter user Zappyboi cited on-chain data showing a significant increase in the value of 0xSifu’s wallet from $45 million to $445 million. The data also highlighted a recent transaction worth around $200 million from Sifu’s wallet to a wallet created earlier in January 2022.

The revelations regarding Wonderland’s alleged co-founder have also provoked a market sell-for for projects in the “Frog Nation,” a monicker used to identify the members of the Wonderland Community.

Data from on-chain aggregator CoinGecko shows a significant drop in the market caps of Wonderland’s own token TIME, Popsicle Finance’s ICE, and Abracadabra Money’s SPELL in the last 24 hours.

The news comes as the latest development in connection to the QuadrigaCX saga from 2019 following the mysterious death of the exchange’s co-founder Gerard Cotten in India. As BTCManager previously reported, the Canadian-based crypto platform revealed that about $250 million in customer funds became inaccessible.

The funds were supposedly held in a cold storage wallet and only the late Cotten had possession of the keys. Lawyers representing the exchange’s former users and investors recently filed a motion to exhume Cotten’s body in a bid to find answers and resolve the case.