The venom of Venom Blockchain Foundation lingers on in UAE

The venom of Venom Blockchain Foundation lingers on in UAE

For the past two months Venom Foundation, a blockchain infrastructure provider has been publishing press releases, originating from what is pointed out as UAE, which eventually prompted the Abu Dhabi Global Market, which had once housed Venom Foundation, to point out that Venom Foundation no longer operates from ADGM.

In April Venom Foundation in a press release coming out of UAE stated that it had partnered with Gate.io a crypto exchange to promote strategic token projects on the Venom Network.

As per the press release, the companies will showcase the collaboration during the Venom TokenForge hackathon this week in Dubai. At the time Venom Foundation CEO Christopher Louis Tsu said; “Gate.io is a leader and a strategic partner for Venom. Venom has launched the most scalable layer zero blockchain network for Defi and payment Dapps and will facilitate the rollout of the most unique and promising projects on its network and on Gate.io”

Interestingly in the same press release Venom Foundation noted that its mission was to bring transparency and innovation to the industry as a leading global blockchain company. They added, “We aim to provide infrastructure for governments and web3 projects while empowering emerging economies in the Middle East and North Africa with our unique technology.” This was despite the fact that in March 2024 Venom Foundation announced that it had exited UAE ADGM and established a new foundation in the Cayman Islands.  

The announcement came just one year after Venom Foundation registered itself in ADGM.

But this was not the only press release that came out in April alluding to the presence of Venom Foundation in UAE. In April as well Venom announced it joined forces with Banxa to offer Venom supported tokens. As mentioned then, “Integrating Venom foundation network to the Banxa Fiat rails will further boost the business value Venom presents to its Dapps and token developers’ community.

Even more so on April 9th Venom in a press release stated that it was marking a “ milestone in the technology sector of Abu Dhabi, a visionary team has launched the Venom Blockchain, a high-caliber project that has swiftly achieved a market cap surpassing $5.2 billion, with exchange volumes toppling $200 million on leading platforms. This remarkable feat underscores Abu Dhabi’s emerging role as a crucible of innovation and technological progress within the global fintech industry.

This was clearly a misleading press release given they had exited Abu Dhabi in March 2024. Even in March 2024, Venom Foundation also released that UAE Alpha MBM Investments group, the private investment office of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Maktoum bin Juma Al Maktoum, had made an investment in Venom Blockchain to launch digital currency initiatives across Africa, including Uganda, Somalia, and the Central African Republic.

As per the press release, the collaboration, bolstered by Alpha MBM Group’s investment in the Venom Blockchain, will leverage Alpha MBM Investment’s expertise in compliance solutions and Venom Foundation’s innovative blockchain technology. Together, they will focus on developing stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), establishing cryptocurrency exchanges, and implementing real-world asset tokenization projects within the agreed-upon regions.

The confusion and turmoil in Venom Foundation dates back to 2023, when Alibek Garcia Isaev, one of the main investors in Venom Foundation, was pushed into the center of a very controversial legal entanglement which brought a lot of criticism not only to Issaev but inadvertently Venom Blockchain, and its Foundation. He was then found innocent in December 2023.

But before the final ruling, Venom had also lost one of its very early investors and executives. Mustafa Kheriba, the Executive Chairman of Venomex, a UAE regulated crypto exchange and one of the initial investors and supporters of UAE based Venom Blockchain Foundation resigned from his position at Venom Foundation.

It is noteworthy that it seems the relationship between Venomex and Venom Foundation is no longer present. Venomex looks to be a standalone entity still regulated in ADGM.

So it was no surprise when Abu Dhabi Global Market, through its Registration Authority (RA) informed the public this week, that “Venom Foundation, an ADGM registered foundation with registration number 000008382 (Venom Foundation ADGM), is no longer conducting any activities in ADGM having voluntarily cancelled its commercial licence in February 2024 and appointed a liquidator in March 2024 to wind down the foundation.”

ADGM also noted, that in addition to Venom Foundation ADGM, associated ADGM companies Venom Blockchain Holding Limited with registration number 000007380 and Venom Blockchain Holding 2 Limited with registration number 000010061 also appointed a liquidator in March 2024 to wind down those companies.

The registration authority alerted members of the public that Venom Foundation ADGM and the associated ADGM companies are not associated with activities mentioned in recent social media announcements concerning the launch of Venom Blockchain. References in the recent social media to Venom Foundation are not to Venom Foundation ADGM.

So it seems that even long after the bite, the venom lingers on.

Venom Blockchain Foundation exits UAE to The Cayman Islands

Venom Blockchain Foundation exits UAE to The Cayman Islands

One year ago to date, the Abu Dhabi Global Market, (ADGM) an international financial center, based out of Abu Dhabi UAE, had announced on LinkedIn that Venom Foundation was the first licensed crypto foundation which would be building a scalable blockchain, today Venom Foundation is no longer in ADGM, but has established a new foundation in the Cayman Islands.

A year ago, ADGM was very hopeful. ADGM statement read, “Venom Foundation is set to become one of the most anticipated blockchain phenomena, enriching the ADGM community and the nation as a whole! Subject to the relevant regulatory approvals, Venom Foundation will work with ecosystem participants to ensure that such products are offered in a compliant manner within the trusted and well-regulated environment of ADGM.”

Today Venom’s announcement made on medium changes the narrative, as Venom Blockchain gears up towards its mainnet launch on March 18th 2024. The post reads, “Recently, Venom underwent a transformative phase by establishing a new foundation in the Cayman Islands. This strategic move signifies a leap forward, aligning Venom with the progressive regulatory framework of the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands (BVI). By doing so, Venom reaffirms its commitment to providing secure, reliable, and innovative cryptocurrency services to its users worldwide.”

So it would seem that either ADGM dropped Venom Foundation after all the turmoil that the entity went through in the past year, or Venom Foundation dropped ADGM license, created a new foundation, and set it up in the Cayman Islands and BVI.  

Talking about turmoil, Venom Foundation was brawled in a legal battle. In July 2023, Alibek Garcia Isaev, one of the main investors in Venom Foundation, was pushed into the center of a very controversial legal entanglement which brought a lot of criticism not only to Issaev but inadvertently Venom Blockchain, and its Foundation. He was then found innocent in December 2023.

But before the final ruling, Venom had also lost one of its very early investors and executives. Mustafa Kheriba, the Executive Chairman of Venomex, a UAE regulated crypto exchange and one of the initial investors and supporters of UAE based Venom Blockchain Foundation resigned from his position at Venom Foundation. It is noteworthy that it seems the relationship between Venomex and Venom Foundation is no longer there. Venomex looks to be a standalone entity still regulated in ADGM, while on Venom Foundation website, there is no mention of Venomex anymore. What’s more Kheriba is still a registered director according to FSRA website.

In the about section of Venom Foundation on medium, the company notes that Venom is a multi-blockchain network being a basis for scalable Web3 applications in the DeFi and Global Payments markets. Venom Foundation main priority to develop and support a self-sufficient blockchain ecosystem has attracted developers to build various projects: VenomWallet (non-custodial wallet with a multisig option and ledger support), VenomScan (to access transactions history), VenomGet (an easy gateway to Venom tokens), VenomBridge (allowing the interchain transactions), VenomPools (to stake on validator nodes), Web3.World (native decentralized exchange). No Venomex exchange is listed.

So while Venom Foundation has moved on to greener pastures, so has ADGM. It launched its new DLT regulation that would allow DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) Foundations, DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) to issue tokens. Soon afterwards, IoTa Foundation received the first DLT Foundation license.

If there is one takeaway from all this, it is that the virtual assets scene is ever changing and the regulations ever growing. So while the UAE says goodbye to Venom Foundation, as it did to Hayvn, it is welcoming many others onboard.

UAE based Venom Blockchain gets good news

UAE based Venom Blockchain gets good news

It seems good news are in order for UAE based Venom Blockchain. Alibek Garcia Isaaev, one of the founders and main investors in Venom Blockchain has been found innocent of all civil and criminal charges. Not only that but he will be receiving close to a billion dollars in restitution. This closes a very bleak chapter in the Venom Blockchain history and it comes at the right time.

In July 2023, Alibek Garcia Isaev, was pushed into the center of a very controversial legal entanglement which brought a lot of criticism not only to Issaev but inadvertently Venom Blockchain, and its Foundation.

In the media Issaev was called a “fraudster” but now he has been cleared of all charges, and it is Ilya Kligman, a Russian banker that has been found guilty and has been sentenced to prison in the UAE. UAE court convicted Ilya Kligman for a prison term in absentia. According to news sources, “He is set to face a prison term, extradition from Germany to the UAE, and the recovery of multibillion-dollar damages he caused to numerous companies through extortion, blackmail, and obstructing their normal functioning.”

It seems Kligman fled from Russia to Germany for multiple financial crimes. He is noted to have siphoned off billions of rubles from Russia and bankrupted dozens of Russian banks.

One of the companies owned by Kligman, Papaya Ltd, registered in Malta (with partners such as Mastercard and dozens of payment projects), will be seized. Lawyers have already filed requests with law enforcement agencies in Germany, Malta, and the Czech Republic.

On the other hand, all charges against Alibek Isaev, one of the main investors in Venom, have been dropped in both civil and criminal courts. Ilya Kligman will be obligated to pay Alibek Isaev compensation amounting to $940 million. This sum represents restitution for all the damage caused and is part of the efforts to restore justice and punish unlawful actions.

After serving his prison term in the UAE and settling all compensations, Kligman will face extradition back to Russia, to face sentencing there.

This is good news, after many have noted that Venom Blockchain has been quiet with no investments being made into startups. Now the case is cleared Venom will be able to resume its activity. Venom on launching early 2023 had noted that it would be launching a $1 billion venture fund.

UAE based Venom Ventures Fund, invested $5 million in Everscale, a premier blockchain platform that aims to solve the scalability issues bogging down the Web3 industry. It also acquired a crypto exchange naming it Venomex after it received its license from ADGM in October 2022.

Earlier this month Mustafa Kheriba, the Executive Chairman of Venomex, a UAE regulated crypto exchange and one of the initial investors and supporters of UAE based Venom Blockchain Foundation resigned from his position at Venom Foundation.

However it seems that there is light at the end of the tunnel for Venom Blockchain.