Things Are Looking Bleaker for Investors
The situation surrounding the Cointed Group and its promoters, Christopher RIEDER, Charli AHO, and Wolfgang THALER, is becoming more dramatic by the day. This is not only due to RIEDER’s alleged involvement in the Optioment case (see here) but also because of the many unanswered questions regarding its mining operations and the related investment scheme. Investors have poured millions into Cointed’s mining venture, which was managed under the Crypto Unity OG investment program.
Cointed Team Update: Missing Key Figures
We’ve learned that the website for the Vienna-based Crypto Unity OG (www.cryptounity.at) has recently gone offline. Crypto Unity OG plays a critical role in the Cointed story, though this connection has not been widely acknowledged by the public. Additionally, we noticed that Christopher RIEDER is no longer listed as part of the team on Cointed’s websites in Austria and Hong Kong.
In its initial ICO Whitepaper, released in mid-October 2017, Cointed included Crypto Unity OG as a “Green Mining” subsidiary. However, this was misleading, as Crypto Unity OG was NEVER a legal subsidiary of Cointed GmbH. Clearly, Cointed was attempting to present itself as having been involved in cryptocurrency mining for much longer than it actually had.
Cointed Ltd Hong Kong Without Wolfgang RIEDER
In the spring or summer of 2017, Charli AHO joined Cointed, despite not having proper approval from his co-shareholder D. (who had financed the Crypto Unity project in 2016). D. has been trying to obtain financial and operational details about Crypto Unity OG for months. He—and others who invested in mining hardware through dealings with AHO—remain in the dark about which company AHO was truly representing in his transactions.
Based on the limited information D. received from AHO, numerous investors invested in mining hardware through Crypto Unity OG, with many being directed by Wachsende Werte, an Austrian financial services firm. With the website now offline, these investors have no way of knowing the future of the company or its mining operations.
The Situation Around Cointed’s Green Mining Business
Cointed GmbH and Crypto Unity OG’s relationship in early 2017 remains unclear, particularly regarding the specific goals of any partnership they might have had.
As of today, Crypto Unity OG—set up specifically to provide mining hosting services—is co-owned by Charli AHO (50%) and the founding investor (50%). This means that potential investors were misled during the Cointed ICO regarding the status and ownership of Crypto Unity OG.
In October 2017, D. (the seed investor) realized that Crypto Unity OG was falsely portrayed in the Cointed ICO whitepaper. He reached out to both Cointed’s and AHO’s legal representatives, urging them to remove Crypto Unity OG from the whitepaper. Subsequently, in an updated version of the whitepaper published in mid-November 2017, Crypto Unity OG’s name was removed. By the time Version 2.0 was released in December 2017 (just days before the transparency report came out), the green mining business was instead attributed to Swiss Crypto Group AG, a company established by AHO and Daniil ORLOV in June 2017. The Swiss authorities raised concerns about the company’s lack of a legitimate domicile until November 29, 2017, further casting doubt on its operational status.
Missing Financial Transparency
Despite its involvement in the mining business, Crypto Unity OG has yet to file its financial statements for 2016 with the Austrian commercial registry or tax authorities. D. has been unable to obtain any accounting information for Crypto Unity OG for 2017.
Cointed’s transparency report mentions an investment of EUR 12 million in its mining business, but it raises crucial questions: Where did this money come from? Who were the financial partners and investors involved? (Stay tuned… we are investigating further.)
Lack of Transparency in the Report
It’s highly concerning that the 21 Group experts, who produced the Cointed transparency report in December 2017, failed to mention or investigate the critical issues surrounding Crypto Unity OG and the mining business. Until December 2017, Swiss Crypto Group AG had no real business activities, so who was actually running the mining operations before then? The most logical answer appears in Cointed’s original ICO whitepaper: it was Crypto Unity OG. However, were proper procedures followed when transferring operations from one legal entity to another?
Interestingly, Crypto Unity OG is not even mentioned in the transparency report. From our perspective, the “Transparency Report” is misleading and should more accurately be called a “Calmation Report,” designed to reassure current mining investors and potential ICO participants without addressing critical issues.
The role of financial service providers such as Wachsende Werte and 21 Group in the operations of Crypto Unity OG and Cointed should also be closely scrutinized.
The investigation into Cointed will continue, and we thank all whistleblowers for their contributions. Please keep sharing any information you have, as we work to ensure a full and transparent investigation. All findings will be forwarded to the appropriate authorities and legal teams.