Michael Patryn
The pseudonymous Wonderland treasury manager '0xSifu', revealed by ZachXBT in 2022 to be Michael Patryn — co-founder of the collapsed QuadrigaCX exchange and a prior convicted fraudster who had used the name Omar Dhanani.
Also known as: 0xSifu, Sifu, Omar Dhanani
Note: Patryn's prior convictions are a matter of record; he was not charged over Wonderland itself — the controversy was his hidden identity managing the treasury.
Bio
Michael Patryn managed the treasury of the Avalanche-based DeFi protocol Wonderland (TIME token) under the pseudonym "0xSifu." In January 2022, on-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed Sifu's identity, and founder Daniele Sestagalli confirmed he had known. [1][2]
Background
Patryn co-founded the Canadian exchange QuadrigaCX (with Gerald Cotten) — which collapsed in 2019 with ~$169–190M of customer funds missing and was later deemed a Ponzi by the Ontario Securities Commission. Earlier, under the name Omar Dhanani, Patryn served U.S. federal prison time for conspiracy to commit credit/bank-card fraud (and had other convictions). After the reveal, Wonderland's TIME token crashed and the DAO voted on removing him as treasurer. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Linked scams & cases
Sources (2)
See also
Luke BelmarIndividualsCryptocurrency influencer Luke Belmar (@lukebelmar on X) became the subject of controversy following allegations related to the promotion of a memecoin. Critics on social media alleged that Belmar used a series of posts referencing a forthcoming cryptocurrency project and a large-scale airdrop to generate interest in a token without explicitly identifying a specific contract address. Belmar published multiple posts discussing an upcoming memecoin, describing plans for what he characterized as a major airdrop and making comparisons to other cryptocurrency projects. Because no contract address was publicly provided, several tokens emerged claiming association with his statements. Critics alleged that this ambiguity enabled speculation around multiple tokens while avoiding a direct endorsement of any particular asset.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI) — Justin Sun token freezeProjectsWLFI, a DeFi project linked to Donald Trump and his family, blacklisted/froze the wallet of major investor Justin Sun in Sept 2025 — ~540–595M unlocked WLFI tokens (~$107M) plus ~2.4B locked. Sun sued, alleging an undisclosed admin 'blacklist backdoor'; WLFI denied it and threatened a countersuit. The dispute is ongoing.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.