16 December 2024 , 12:44
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Bohdan Prylepa’s name has sparked significant controversy in recent months: some accuse him of defrauding tens of thousands of Ukrainians and embezzling volunteer funds, while others argue he is a victim of fabricated attacks.
Of course, the latter is claimed by Bohdan Prylepa himself, who has stated that all publications about his alleged scams and cooperation with Russian special services are the work of his former partner, Mykola Udyanskyi, with whom Prylepa previously had several joint crypto projects. It is worth noting that both Mykola Udyanskyi and his crypto projects have a rather questionable, to say the least, reputation. Many call him a blatant crypto fraudster and pyramid organizer. So, in this context, Prylepa’s words about who ordered the attack may have some validity.
However, in this same chain, Prylepa’s claims to be an honest IT entrepreneur, businessman, co-author of several laws regulating the cryptocurrency market in Ukraine, and a blockchain specialist raise doubts. After all, all this might be plausible if not for the very joint projects with Udyanskyi, about which Prylepa speaks so unfavorably: if Udyanskyi’s projects are a scam, then what was Prylepa doing in them?
Let’s try to understand the situation, based on what Bohdan Prylepa himself says about himself. According to his biography, he graduated from the Irpin Tax Academy and holds a master’s degree in law. Simultaneously, he is a blockchain specialist, "leading expert," as he claims himself.
It’s interesting, where did he learn? At the Irpin Tax Academy? We will refrain from commenting on what this university represents and direct the curious to Google. But in any case, blockchain technologies are not studied there. Okay, let’s assume that Bohdan Prylepa mastered this science on his own and indeed became an expert in it. This is entirely possible, self-education is not overrated. Especially since Prylepa claims that he even participated in a meeting of Mark Ginzburg with students and has several publications on this subject, including on the website Nulltx.com.
Indeed, on the site Nulltx.com there is a publication by Bohdan Prylepa in which he promotes the "Bitcoin Ultimatum" fork he created himself, calling it a very promising cryptocurrency and predicting a great future for this "fork." To not return to the question – here is the very "great future" of Bitcoin Ultimatum from two reputable sources:
So Prylepa’s "Bitcoin fork" remained just a hyped-up empty talk. This confirms doubts about his high qualification in the blockchain field. Especially against the backdrop of several other projects which are Prylepa’s brainchild. The most famous among them are the Coinsbit, Qmall, and Tidex exchanges.
Here’s what the exchange writes about Coinsbit in the specialized publication Minfin:
The reliability indicator "low" from Minfin is confirmed by another resource – Coingecko: coin volume – zero, trading pair volume – zero, trading volume – zero. And users state that it’s impossible to withdraw money from Coinsbit.
The next product from Bohdan Prylepa is the Tidex exchange. Trades are occurring here, but the reliability rating is also low.
This is also confirmed by user reviews: "Tidex scam! You can deposit and trade there, but you won’t be able to withdraw!!!", "You can deposit money, that’s 100 percent. Withdrawal is impossible!", "If you want to throw your money away, go for TIDEX". Regarding the Tidex exchange, it should also be mentioned that the location of its registration is unclear: some sources state that Tidex is registered in the United Kingdom, others – Lithuania.
The third project of Bohdan Prylepa is the Qmall exchange, which he promoted with representatives of the Ukrainian government, since Qmall is allegedly a domestic product. Things are a bit better here – Minfin rates its reliability as "medium", and it ranks 124th with a score of 5 out of 10 in the Coingecko rating, trades are ongoing.
All seems well. If not for several quite significant points. The first and obvious one is the joint project of Prylepa and Udyanskyi, in which there is an evident conflict. The second point is that the exchange is declared as Ukrainian, but the country of registration is Lithuania. And the reviews on the same Minfin are far from inspiring:
"Liquidity – zero, junkyard", "functional zero, no liquidity, the list of trading pairs consists of 80% trash, the exchange is not developing, the exchange token fell by 93%". The token, by the time since the comment date (February 2023), fell not by 93%, it hopelessly plummeted into the abyss. As of December 13, 2024, the Qmall token costs 61 kopecks. Although at the launch of the exchange, its price was 21.64 hryvnias, and at its peak, it was 35.05 hryvnias.
Now, let’s return to the beginning of the publication. As already mentioned, several publications specializing in investigations have reported in recent months that Bohdan Prylepa not only "threw" people who invested money in his crypto exchanges but also fled abroad, taking with him money allegedly collected to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Following this escape, materials appeared linking Prylepa to Russian special services.
Whether Bohdan Prylepa is connected with Russian special services – there is no definitive data yet. But the fact of escape is evident. As is the disappearance of over a billion hryvnias from cryptocurrency accounts intended for purchasing drones for the army. Analysis of the activities of all three crypto exchanges associated with Bohdan Prylepa - Coinsbit, Qmall, and Tidex – shows that these are unequivocally failed projects. But it very much seems that this is exactly how they were conceived. After people invested money and trading began, it was discovered that withdrawing this money back was practically impossible.
On the exchanges where this possibility exists, Prylepa profited differently – by selling his token at an inflated price. Initially, interest in the token was fueled by artificial price inflation, causing an agitated demand, and then it turned out that investors had bought a mere empty shell. A striking example is the Qmall token price chart shown above. The scheme is simple and elegant, proving fraudulent intentions is almost impossible, and all the victims’ arguments are countered with a simple response: this is the exchange rate, it’s the market.
The conclusion from all the above is simple: whatever Bohdan Prylepa claims in paid publications, he is just an ordinary fraudster, among those that have recently become notorious in Ukraine. Regarding the fact that the "attack" on him was ordered by his former partner Mykola Udyanskyi – it is possible, but this does not cancel the fact of fraud, as well as the theft of money that people collected for the army. As for cooperation with the FSB – let competent authorities figure it out. If they suddenly find the time and desire.