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September 19, 2023A new scandal is brewing in the digital asset market. Investors of a Ukrainian crypto startup are complaining about financial losses from the DeHealth (DHLT) token, released by the British non-profit organization DeHealth.
One of the co-founders of this company is Ukrainian Anna Bondarenko, originally from Kropyvnytskyi. Her official biography states that she is an IT entrepreneur and a professional violinist. Alongside Denis Zweig, she is a co-founder of DeHealth and leads the international eHealth consortium. Additionally, Bondarenko works in the fashion industry, having founded the designer clothing brand Palson Kifot.
In December 2021, Bondarenko announced the creation of a so-called decentralized metaverse starting in 2022. She promised to transfer millions of doctors and patients to a new world where they could interact with each other in 3D format, obtain necessary consultations, provide medical information, and earn virtual assets by selling their anonymous medical data. The primary means of exchange in the announced metaverse was the DHLT token.
At the project’s outset, it was touted as being on a massive scale, designed for 3 million users, which impressed potential investors.
However, problems quickly emerged. On February 23, 2022, the crypto startup conducted the initial token offering of DHLT, which sold out within a few hours. However, just a few weeks later, the project’s founders told investors that the funds had allegedly been stolen by a market maker, and they were investigating the situation.
“Bondarenko told me that the market maker dumped liquidity on the exchange, meaning they allegedly stole the money. And lawyers and cyberpolice are dealing with it now,” said one of the foreign investors.
But, according to him, the narrative changed abruptly.
“After some time, Bondarenko no longer mentioned that someone stole the money and said that the token’s value had simply plummeted, and there was nothing they could do about it – those were the quotes. The value dropped by a factor of 10. So, if I were to withdraw my money now, I would get 10 times less than what I invested. Interestingly, no one even mentions the thief-market maker anymore. We now understand that the theft story was probably a fake to calm investors temporarily so they wouldn’t withdraw their money right away. Recently, they respond to all questions by saying they are currently working with the Ministry of Defense and don’t have time for trivial matters,” the investor said.
It’s worth noting that investors indeed suffered significant losses with DHLT tokens. If a year ago, in mid-September 2022, the DHLT token was worth 1.2 hryvnias, by September 15, 2023, its price had plummeted to 2 kopecks (0.02 hryvnias), a 98.1% drop. If this trend continues, it will soon be virtually worthless.
Additionally, in April of this year, the daily trading volume of DHLT on the exchange reached $531,000, but it has now dropped by 11 times to $48,500.
The initial offering of DHLT last year took place on the Pancakeswap platform, and its creators proudly claimed that all tokens were sold in less than two hours. Currently, the token is listed on the BitMart exchange.
While the founders of PancakeSwap themselves may not engage in fraudulent activities, they do not verify or control token issuers, allowing them to operate freely. This has led to numerous complaints on specialized forums.
However, there is a warning for users on the PancakeSwap platform: “Anyone can create a BEP20 token on BSC with any name, including creating fake versions of existing tokens, claiming to represent projects that do not have a token. If you buy a random token, you may not be able to sell it back.”
This notice was specifically made so that in case of issuer fraud, the exchange can always claim it was not involved.
Currently, investors are directing their questions not at the exchange but at those who launched the DHLT token.
“In the near future, I plan to file a criminal complaint against them for theft and fraud. I see no other way,” said one of the foreign investors.