Frequently asked questions

Questions a sceptical reader should ask

These are short answers. The longer version is in my story, and the evidence about Mike is on Who was Mike?. Numbers like #1326 open that message in the chat. Chat times are UTC-8.

Why should I trust a chat you control?

You shouldn't take it on trust. I have owned this group only since 28 September 2026, when Chuck, who created it, handed it over #7576 #7578. The export shows who wrote each message and when, and I kept messages that make me look bad, for example #2968, #4029, #5020 and #6842. My own 2026 notes are marked as notes, not as part of the original chat #7585 #7595. Every redaction and gap is listed on the Transparency page. If you were in this group, compare it with your own copy, and please tell me if anything differs.

What did you delete?

I removed customer data, personal data about unrelated people, and data about early team members #7598. Other text is redacted, and those redactions are listed on the Transparency page. 663 message numbers are missing from the export. Some of the gaps fall at sensitive points, around the 24 December wording #1055 #1058 and around the [email protected] email #1323 #1325 #1327. I cannot see who deleted what, or when. Mike could delete his own messages, and Chuck, as owner, could delete any. At least one gap, #7582, comes after I became owner, so that one was mine. I understand why the gaps raise questions. The unredacted chat is available to authorities.

Can I see the original Telegram group?

No. Before preparing this site, I deleted some messages from the group that contained customer data or details about early staff and unrelated people #7598. That did not remove all personal data: many of the remaining messages still contain customer names, emails, balances, support tickets and screenshots. On this site those are redacted (436 text redactions and 148 images masked or withheld, all listed on the Transparency page) so that every message can still be read in context; deleting all of them instead would have removed most of the record. The authorities will get everything, including the messages I deleted. That is why the original group stays private: it still contains customer data and data about third parties. This site is the complete redacted copy: everything in my export is here, except the removals listed on the Transparency page. There is no public invite link. If you are from law enforcement, contact me and I can give you access to the original group. If you are a journalist, all the messages are on this site; if you want to check a specific message against the original, contact me.

Can you show what Mike promised you in private?

No. The promises I describe, such as that I would own Altilly once I had set up a company, were made in a one-to-one Telegram chat between Mike and me. Mike deleted the entire history of that chat for both of us, so it cannot be recovered. What I say about it is my memory. Only fragments survive: screenshots of part of that private chat that I posted in this group in May 2021 #5025 #5028, which are about the Estonian licence and a new exchange, not about Altilly's ownership, and my Discord screenshots from November and December 2022.

Why didn't you publish this earlier?

Partly fear, and partly shame. I have received threats for years, from the first days after the hack #2155 #2160 #2471 until now. Reading my own messages from that time was hard; many of them are naive or worse. I also had to go through thousands of messages to remove customer data first. Ownership was not the reason. Chuck owned the group until 28 September 2026 #7578, but I was still a member and in touch with him, and in 2025 I used the chat to take screenshots and post them online. People still did not believe me: whatever facts or screenshots I showed, someone could say they were fabricated. So I stopped arguing online. By 2026 I was still having nightmares about that time, still receiving threats on Telegram, and still unable to run a legitimate business without being connected to Altilly. I decided to settle it once and for all: publish the whole team chat, including my own shortcomings and how naively I ran the business, so people can read it for themselves. For a long time I assumed that if I left it behind and kept handling the refunds myself, it would fade away. After I came to believe who Mike really was, from late 2022, I also stayed away from saying it publicly: I was running a legitimate business and did not want my name connected to his real name, or the reputation of my future projects to suffer for it. For me the most important thing was to refund users, and I believed I could do it by staying positive and running real businesses. That is what I did: when I sold my mining businesses in 2022, I used the proceeds first to pay back the investors, and then used my own share to pay Altilly refund users, roughly $900,000 by my own count (see Refunds on what can and cannot be proven). The original group stays private because it contains customer data, but it is available to law enforcement, and to journalists and others who want to verify specific messages one-to-one with me.

Did you steal the funds?

No. That is my answer, and I know you cannot simply accept it. What the chat shows is this. Mike ran the servers, the backups and the wallet keys #1271 #1299 #1353. At the time of the loss I wrote "I never had access to those servers" #1492 #1493. In January 2021 I wrote that I had "no money at all" #2805, and in May 2021 "zero cash" #5602. The chat does not show me moving customer funds. It cannot prove a negative, and it does not cover what happened outside this group.

Where did Altilly's fees go? Didn't listing fees in XQR benefit you?

As far as I know, the listing and trading fees went to Mike. That is my account: no message in the chat names the wallet that received them. What the chat does show fits it. When we changed our listing offer in 2019, it was Mike who changed the payment info #697, and he held the keys to a wallet he kept some funds in #1615. After the hack, when I asked how much of the 31 lost BTC was ours, he answered "i think around 0.8 was mine … exchange fees, not much" #1663. Listing fees were priced in XQR #183 #583. The Qredit ICO ended in 2018, so I was not selling new XQR at the time; by my account, projects paid with XQR that was already in circulation. But demand for XQR did benefit people who held it, and I was one of them. I also once suggested making users apply for Qredit KYC, "which also costs money" #198. So yes, I benefited indirectly as an XQR holder. My own XQR, which I kept on Altilly, was lost in the hack #1733. The chat shows no fee money reaching me, but some messages were removed before publication #7598, so that is not proof on its own.

Are you Mike, or "Karl"?

No. Mike and I appear in the same chat as different people, talking to each other. He lived in China #3639 #4415, and I lived in Sweden #5735. His Revolut card was sent to my address because Revolut showed that its service was not offered in his country #3646, and I forwarded it #3647 #3960. On "Karl", see the Dokdo/Xeggex question below.

Is Mike really Paul Vernon?

I believe so, but it is not proven. The strongest items are in the chat from the time. On 26 December 2020 Mike named the old hosting login "[email protected]" and wrote "history on that domain probably has my name" #1326 #1328. In February 2021 his Revolut card arrived addressed to "PAUL Vernon" #3833. Paul Vernon, the Cryptsy founder, is under a US federal indictment and has not been convicted. No court or authority has linked him to Altilly or Xeggex. The full evidence, including what points the other way, is on Who was Mike?.

If you had that envelope in 2021, why did you keep working with Mike?

Because I trusted him and did not want to see it. I knew "Mike" was not his real name #7595; he told me he kept his real name private because he also ran adult websites and did not want that linked to the exchange (his explanation, which I cannot verify). When the "PAUL Vernon" envelope arrived #3833, as I remember it, I searched the name, found a British blues musician, and let it go (my 2026 note #7585). Days after the hack I told him "It's not your fault" #1256, and in May 2021 I wrote "I trust you with the hosting panel" #5658. We kept planning a new exchange together #5666 #7428. I call that wilful blindness, and it is my fault.

Did Mike send you money after the hack?

He offered to, and I said yes. In May 2021 he wrote "i think i can probably get that 10k by the end of the week", "ill send a little extra if i can" and "you have no problems cashing out btc right?" #5728 #5737 #5738. It was for the Estonian licence I was applying for, for our next venture together #5735 #5745. In August 2021 I wrote "We already have the funding for the crypto license" #7230; by my account, that was the money Mike had offered. The chat itself does not show the payment. In 2026 I added a note calling it "10k out of nowhere" #7592. That leaves out that Mike said at the time he was selling a house and planned to "live off that cash" #5471 #5472. The chat does not show where the money came from.

Why were refunds partial?

The user database and its decryption config were lost #1352 #1353, so we rebuilt claims by hand from claim forms and deposit-confirmation emails #2146 #4665. Only about 137 assets were saved #1757. Many saved-asset refunds went out in 2021, mostly sent by Mike #4613–#4903. Some saved wallets were short or empty #4849. Thousands of people missed the deadline #5052. By July 2021, first-round assets were still unpaid #6876, and in September Chuck wrote "Weve made alot of promises we are not keeping" #7421. Some of it was also our fault. I agreed to "drag it out" #5017 #5020 (the refund-token plan followed the next day #5201–#5203, but Altfenix never launched), I told Chuck to use the lowest price "the most beneficial for us" #6842 #6847, partly so a one-day spike in altcoin prices would not set the value, and I did not check individual claims between 50 and 200 USD #3564, only that each coin's total matched its wallet #3558. Those messages stay published.

Did you really pay about $900,000 in refunds yourself?

Yes. The figure comes from my own records. Most of the money came from selling my mining businesses in 2022: after paying back the investors, I used my share for Altilly refunds, all of it except about $25,000 that went to my personal debt. The payments were made from late 2021 onwards, after this chat ends; the chat itself shows me broke in 2021 #2805 #5602. I know a reader cannot check that from this site. Even if I published amounts and transaction IDs, someone could say I sent random amounts to random wallets. The better test is the communities themselves: projects that were listed on Altilly can ask in their own groups whether their members received refunds, including for non-saved assets, and a trusted member saying yes is worth more than anything I post. See Check the refunds yourself.

Did you hide some refunds?

Yes. In February 2021 I told Chuck that, for "a really pushy person" in a country on our banking partner's 139-country high-risk list (not a sanctions list), he should refund "but not by email and remove all traces" #4028 #4029. I had already done this for one loyal user, whom I put on a separate list and whose messages I deleted #4032 #4033. The users were paid, but the chat does not show it, and I have not published proof. The chat also does not show how many people were handled this way after my instruction. It was wrong to work around our own rules and hide it.

Why can't you show refund txids?

For many refunds, I can't. Several of the chains we paid out on in 2020-21 no longer run, including the old Qredit chain, so those transactions can no longer be looked up. Many saved-asset refunds were sent by Mike, not by me #4613–#4903, and the user database was lost in the hack #1352 #1353. Where a chain still exists and I have the records, I can look up a specific refund if you ask. I know "the proof is gone" is exactly what a dishonest person would also say. So treat refunds I cannot document as my claim, not as fact.

What about the Dokdo/Xeggex acquisition?

In 2022 Mike introduced me to "Karl" from Xeggex. My company, Dokdo, announced that it would acquire Xeggex, on the condition of full KYC/AML compliance. Xeggex's own site said so at the time, and for a while it described itself as a Dokdo service. I asked for the backend and wallet code for an audit and received only the frontend, and I did not complete the acquisition. That is my account; there are no chat messages about it, because this chat ends in 2021. Two things count against me. The Dokdo references stayed on Xeggex until December 2022. On 3 December Mike asked me on Discord whether to start removing them, and I said "Yes, please" (a screenshot is in my February 2025 write-up). That was days after the Solar incident. And in February 2025 I wrote that I had "no connection with Mike whatsoever", which left out this history. The business relationship ended in late 2022; after that, my only contact with him was about getting money back (see below). Public records show that the Xeggex domain (August 2021) and its GitHub organisation (September 2021) existed before Mike told me about "Karl", and that Mike's GitHub account "mrmikeo" made a commit to Xeggex's GitHub organisation in April 2024. I believe "Karl" was Mike. That is not proven.

Did Xeggex run on your servers?

While we worked together, Mike had his own project inside my Hetzner account, with its own API key. He could create and manage servers in that project #5937 #5941 #6040–#6042, but he had no access to the rest of my account. That is how Altilly's new servers were set up in 2020 #1119 #1121 #2586. After we split up in late 2022, I found out that he was also using that project for Xeggex, including a Solar node for Xeggex. I told him to move everything out of it. He finished in January 2023, and I deleted the servers. The chat ends in 2021, so this part is my account.

What happened at Solar in November 2022?

Solar (SXP) was a project I led. On 30 November 2022 Solar posted a statement in the Solar validator group on Discord, titled "UNAUTHORISED BEP20->SXP SWAP TRANSACTIONS" (the statement). It says that on 29 November 2022 "a series of unauthorised swap transactions were detected which took place between 12th August 2022 and 29th November 2022, exchanging non-existent BEP20 SXP tokens for mainnet SXP coins", and that "In total, 1,878,477 SXP was fraudulently swapped during this time resulting from a vulnerability detected in the BSC nodes used to provide API data to the swap service." It says this was not a hack of the Solar mainnet or Solar Core, that "user funds were never at risk", and that no new SXP coins were created. It also says: "The identity of the perpetrator is known, and the necessary recovery processes are now in motion which cannot be discussed further for legal reasons." It does not name anyone.

That the perpetrator was Mike comes from my own Discord screenshots, which are in my February 2025 write-up, not from the statement. On 29 November 2022 at 22:45 I wrote to him: "Why did you do it Mike?" At 00:17 on 30 November I wrote: "We are not going to say anything if you can return the funds in 24hrs." At 05:43 MikeO replied: "sorry man. ya i fucked up… original plan was to earn some money from trading… liquidated out of my positions on the ftx crash… only thing that is possible is to return it as i can get it." On 3 December 2022 he wrote: "I had nothing to do with the altilly hack." These screenshots are my evidence; they are not part of this chat, and no authority has confirmed any of it.

When did you realise who Mike was?

In stages, and too late. In December 2020 Mike named the old hosting login "[email protected]" #1326 #1328, and in February 2021 his Revolut card arrived addressed to "PAUL Vernon" #3833. I saw both and let them go. As best I can place it, it came together around November 2022, at the time of the Solar incident: I came to believe that Mike was running Xeggex himself, that "Karl" did not exist, and that Mike was Paul Vernon. I then cancelled the Dokdo acquisition. These are my beliefs; no authority has confirmed them.

Why did you stay silent while the Solar funds were being repaid?

Because I put getting the money back first. I wrote to him, "We are not going to say anything if you can return the funds in 24hrs." It took far longer than 24 hours. By my account, Mike repaid the full 1,878,477 SXP in 12 payments between 1 December 2022 and 19 March 2024, back to the Solar swap wallet involved in the theft. The final payments can be checked on the Solar blockchain; the dates, amounts and transaction IDs are in the Solar repayment ledger.

The business relationship ended in late 2022. After that, I stayed in contact with him for one reason: getting money back. First the Solar funds, which he repaid in full by 19 March 2024, and later a promise he made to fund the remaining Altilly refunds for non-saved assets and to pay Chuck. He never followed up on it.

Why didn't you warn Xeggex users?

I should have. From late 2022 I believed Mike ran Xeggex, and I said nothing publicly for over two years while it took deposits. My reasons were these. I had no proof. I was running Solar, a legitimate project, and did not want it tied to someone I believed was Paul Vernon. I was afraid of him. I had a young child and a family to protect, and Solar to run. I believed Mike was Paul Vernon, whom a US court had placed in fugitive status, and I feared he might have access to large funds: in March 2022 bitcoin from the 2014 Cryptsy theft started moving, as Elliptic reported. Nobody has shown who moved those coins, and my fear that Mike could reach them was only a fear. I also remember Mike once saying, in a private conversation, that he could make someone disappear. That is my memory, not something in the chat or something I can prove, and I do not know what he meant. I mention it because the memory of that remark frightened me. Above all, I expected nobody to believe me. The business relationship had ended, and the only contact I kept with him was about getting money back. My expectation turned out to be right. When I did go public, in February 2025 after Xeggex collapsed, and said that I believed Mike, "Karl" and Paul Vernon were the same person, many people did not believe me. On Reddit they wrote that I was "the perpetrator" and "Karl" myself (r/pepecoin, r/pepecoin), and that I did not "pass the sniff test" (r/pepecoin). That disbelief is exactly what I had expected. I also expected that going public would hurt me more than it would help anyone, and in 2025 it did: after my statement, people came to my properties, and I moved house because my address was public. Those are reasons, not excuses. I also doubt that a warning from me would have stopped many people. When I went public in February 2025, Xeggex had already frozen withdrawals. Even so, when its website came back in March, people kept using it. Users asked on Reddit about buying there again (r/pepecoin), and in May 2025 a coin project still listed Xeggex as one of the places to trade its coin (r/BonkcoinPoW). In 2026 the Xeggex domain came back with a "refund" offer, and an old user wrote that he paid it a deposit, despite warnings all over Reddit (r/Crypto_Scam_Exchange). I cannot prove that an earlier warning would have changed nothing. People who lost money on Xeggex may still blame my silence, and I understand that.

Are you accusing "Michael O'Sullivan"?

No. Mike used that name: he signed a whitepaper "Michael Osullivan" #5529, and within weeks of the hack a hostile message, which Chuck relayed to this group, posted that name along with accusations #2679. This site does not repeat or endorse those accusations. UK Companies House lists a director registered as Michael O'Sullivan as an officer of two Xeggex companies. The register does not verify identities. I am convinced "Michael O'Sullivan" was an alias Mike used, possibly with a false passport; that needs investigation by law enforcement. That name may belong to a real, separate person whose details were used, and I am not accusing any such person.

Did Mike buy his house with Altilly money?

I cannot show that, and I no longer claim it. In 2025 I wrote that he lived in a villa paid for with stolen funds, and my 2026 notes suggested the renovation was funded from the hack #7589 #7592. What the chat shows is a new house with an indoor pool, filmed in May 2021 #5094 #5106 #5125, and more work later that year #7430 #7431. It also shows Mike selling another house, which he said had been bought about nine years earlier, and finding a buyer in September 2021 #6163–#6166 #7544. My notes left that out, and I should not have implied it. The chat does not show how the new house was paid for. The interior videos are published #5106 #5123 #5125; one video of the garden is withheld because it could reveal where the house is #5114. I am not asking anyone to take my word either way. Read the chat, look at the dates, do your own research, and draw your own conclusion.

Why did Qredit Ltd never file accounts?

Qredit Ltd (UK company 13077371) was incorporated on 11 December 2020, with me as sole director and the only person with significant control. Mike does not appear on it. It filed nothing after incorporation, no accounts and no confirmation statement, and it was struck off on 17 May 2022. That is on the public register, and it is a failure on my part. My explanation is that the company never traded. I had moved my own Qredit (XQR) coins onto Altilly, because XQR was Altilly's own fee coin, and all the XQR on Altilly was lost in the hack #1731 #1732 #1733 #1734. I believe Mike took it along with everything else, but the chat shows only that it was lost. I was still arranging a banking partner for Qredit in February 2021 #4083, but it never got going. The chat never mentions the UK company.

What was Willems Ventures?

Willems Ventures was my company for Voyager Park, the tourist resort I ran #1579 #1583. It was not an Altilly company. But I should be clear that it was not kept fully separate. In February 2021 I gave Mike and Chuck cards on a Revolut Business account that showed the name Willems Ventures, and paid team costs from it #3644 #3686 #3732. I called it "my account" #3732. A UK company, Willems Ventures Ltd, was incorporated the same day as Qredit Ltd.

Have you gone to the authorities?

Yes. In early 2025 I reported what I knew to the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Marshals opened a two-way dialogue and gave me a tip reference, 777-W77728, but they never responded in it beyond that number. That reference only confirms my report was received. It does not confirm any investigation or any of my beliefs. My 2025 write-up made the dialogue sound like more than it was. The FBI has not given me a case number. I can give any authority the unredacted chat, the envelope photo and the 2022 screenshots. Please do not contact, confront or visit anyone named here. In 2025 I published a private person's name and a property listing, and said I would share Mike's details if people would visit him. That was wrong, and this site does not repeat it.

Are refunds still being paid?

Mostly no. I stopped regular refunds around 2022/2023, and have paid only a handful since. I estimate that the claims still unpaid are around $50,000–60,000 in total, but that is my estimate and I cannot prove it. They are now very hard to check: the user database is gone #1352 #1353 and some chains no longer exist. Many of the late claims I received were fake. I will also be honest about the rest: after I came to believe who Mike was, and watched Xeggex carry on, I lost the energy to keep going. That is not a good reason for the people still waiting, and I know it.

I lost funds on Altilly. Can I still claim a refund?

Ask me through the question form on this page, and say which assets and roughly what balance you had. Do not post private details such as your email, address or wallet keys in public. I will answer there. I cannot promise a refund or a timeline, and nothing on this site is an offer of payment.

Is xeggex.com back? Can I get my old balance through its refund page?

Be careful. The xeggex.com domain is active again in 2026 and asks old users for deposits or "release fees" to get their old balances back. Reports on Reddit call it a scam (r/pepecoin, Feb 2026, r/Crypto_Scam_Exchange), and its Windows app has been flagged as malware (r/CryptoScams). The volume and user numbers on its homepage are typed-in text, not live data: its own API shows a few dozen markets created in 2026 with empty order books. Do not send it money.