Kuna delists WAVES over ‘ties to Russian oligarchs’

From 11 April, the Ukrainian cryptocurrency exchange Kuna has halted WAVES balance top-ups and trading of the token. The notice was sent to platform clients.

Withdrawals of WAVES holdings will be available until 24 April inclusive.

In addition, utility-токен биржи KUN will stop using the Waves blockchain. In a ForkLog interview, Kuna founder Mikhail Chobanian said the company is considering two possible paths: either retaining the token solely in the exchange’s centralized database, or reissuing it on another blockchain.

“It might be Ethereum, but no final decision has been made yet, because the token is listed exclusively on Kuna and is not widely used in circulation,” he clarified.

Chobanian also confirmed that the delisting decision was made on the basis of data about the company’s ties to Russian oligarchs and the government.

On 8 April, Russian journalist Andrey Zakharov circulated this information in his Telegram channel. According to him, after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, Waves Platform founder Sasha Ivanov allegedly “sold Waves’ Russian legal entities under the Web3Tech brand to Igor Kaigorodov.”

“Kaigorodov previously served in the FSB, …, and since 2020 has worked in the management company of Oleg Deripaska’s Rusal. Entering the capital of Russia’s leading crypto project, Kaigorodov continued to work at Rusal. In other words, I am confident that Deripaska actually bought the Russian part of the Waves ecosystem,” Zakharov wrote.

The journalist later added a comment from Rusal:

“Oleg Deripaska did not acquire any crypto projects and is not the beneficiary of such projects. He had no involvement in the acquisition of Waves.”

According to data from the ЕГРЮЛ, since April 2022 Igor Kaigorodov is listed as founder of the companies «Веб3 Технологии» and «Веб3 Интегратор» instead of Ivanov.

In a ForkLog interview, Sasha Ivanov said that in 2022 there was a transfer, not a sale, of the Russian entities to Kaigorodov. The latter, according to him, has worked at Web3Tech as a legal adviser since 2018.

“In 2022 I left Russia and handed the Russian company over to its management; I am no longer involved in any Russian projects. Rusal had no involvement in the transfer of the company to its management,” he said.

Ivanov added that Web3Tech is working on the Waves Enterprise blockchain. This network, in particular, underpins the remote electronic voting system, developed with the participation of “Ростелекома”. It was used to conduct the State Duma elections in 2020 and in 2021.

ForkLog sought comment from Rusal’s press service and Waves Enterprise CEO Artyom Kalikhov, but did not receive a prompt response.

Waves Enterprise unveiled the blockchain-voting system in August 2020.