Michael Patryn (born Omar Dhanani) is an internet entrepreneur and convicted felon. He is best known for being the co-founder of Quadriga Fintech Solutions.

History

In 2007 he admitted to conspiring in separate criminal cases for burglary, grand larceny, and computer fraud. He was arrested as a part of a sting operation on

ShadowCrew ShadowCrew was a cybercrime forum that operated under the domain name ShadowCrew.com between August 2002 and November 2004. Origins The concept of the ShadowCrew was developed in early 2002 during a series of chat sessions between Brett Johns ...

by the

Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For i ...

. Patryn had not been using a proxy address; allowing authorities to identify him with the assistance of a confidential informant within the group. After serving time in a U.S. prison, he was subsequently deported to Canada, where he changed his name twice, once to Omar Patryn, before changing it back to Michael Patryn. He publicly denied that the two identities are related, but an investigation by the ''

Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it fall ...

'' confirmed the name changes with the Canadian government.

Quadriga Fintech Solutions

Patryn co-founded Quadriga Fintech Solutions, operator of the crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, with Gerald Cotten. He claims he left the company in 2016, before the company allegedly became a

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

resulting in over $200 million in losses after Cotten died. The

Ontario Securities Commission The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC; French language, French: ''Commission des valeurs mobilières de l’Ontario'') is a regulation, regulatory agency which administers and enforces security (finance), securities legislation in the Canadian p ...

claimed they attempted to contact Patryn during their investigation, but he did not respond. They believe that the majority of the funds were deposited after his believed departure.

Wonderland

In January 2022, Patryn was allegedly revealed to be 0xSifu, an anonymous individual who co-founded and was elected to manage the treasury at the DeFi cryptocurrency Wonderland, one of the most popular projects in 2021. When this happened, demands resulted in him resigning from the position as many erroneously assumed him to be Cotten when doxxed simply as "the quadriga guy". In February 2022, Wonderland asked him to return with an informal vote in favor. In September 2022, Wonderland voted to hire him as their Risk Officer in a vote which passed with ~90% approval. At its peak, Patryn oversaw over $1 billion in assets in the Wonderland treasury. The incident has led many to advocate for the de-anonymization of crypto.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patryn, Michael Living people Canadian male criminals Canadian gangsters Year of birth missing (living people)