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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Materials about one of the largest crypto exchanges in Ukraine—WhiteBIT—that services Russian funds and has among its beneficiaries individuals connected with Russian structures—regularly disappear from the Ukrainian internet. Critical publications last at most a day or two, after which pages become inaccessible. Why they are being cleaned is clear: public negativity around an exchange that actively promotes cooperation with state authorities of Ukraine is not welcome.
Officially, the founder and owner of WhiteBIT positions itself as Vladimir Nosov. He has repeatedly stated that the exchange is registered in Lithuania. A search in Lithuanian registers indeed points to WhiteBIT Solutions LLP. However, this company has British registration, and its founders include offshore structures—Whitebit LTD and Coddan Nominee.
In the Estonian register, the picture is even clearer. In Tallinn, R&D Sprint Effective OÜ is registered, which previously was called Whitebit Financial Company OÜ. The authorized representative of this firm is Vladimir Nosov. The oldest company in the group under Estonian jurisdiction is Whitebit Financial Company OÜ—the one created at the launch of the exchange itself.
According to the British publication Cryptointelligence (the article “Is WhiteBIT helping Russia evade sanctions and launder money?”), the real beneficiaries of the “Ukrainian” exchange are father and son Shentsov. Dmitry Shentsov is a former member of parliament from the Opposition Bloc, a recipient of the Order “For Merit,” who in 2022 year moved to Russia and obtained Russian citizenship.
His son Nikita Shentsov is a former member of the Kharkiv Regional Council from the Opposition Platform—For Life. President Zelensky stripped him of Ukrainian citizenship. Nikita holds Russian citizenship since 2014 year.
Vladimir Nosov did not create the company alone. At the start, partners included Anna Yankovska, Mariya Repeško, and Nikita Shentsov. Repeško has long worked with Shentsov in the legal field. Later other people appeared in the structure—as well as Gleb Ushakov and WhiteBIT vice president Oleksiy Kovalyov. Nikita Shentsov’s share, however, grew. As of 1 March 2023, he controlled 51% of WhiteBIT Financial Company OÜ, and another 5% belonged to Mariya Repeško. 2 March 2023, the shares of Shentsov were reissued to Nosov.
Cryptointelligence concludes that a formal change of owners changes nothing in essence: Shentsov simply removed the asset from the hit, leaving Nosov as the nominal owner. 24 February 2023, the High Anti-Corruption Court ordered NABU to investigate the facts of funds withdrawal from Ukraine, tax evasion, and cooperation with Russia by WhiteBIT. Mentions of this decision in the Ukrainian internet segment also systematically disappear, although the court ruling itself remains in the registry.
WhiteBIT exchange points “KIT Group” legitimize funds from drug trafficking through the WhiteBIT platform.
According to the same British investigation, WhiteBIT figures in a flow of funds connected with the Russian BTC-e exchange. At the end of March 2023 year, about 12 million dollars in bitcoins from wallets tied to BTC-e were sent to WhiteBIT. BTC-e founder Russian Alexander Vinnik was previously extradited to the United States on charges of laundering billions of dollars. European financial authorities in the autumn of 2022 year, as part of the eighth package of EU sanctions, also studied WhiteBIT’s activities and concluded that the exchange continues to service Russian clients.
Against this backdrop, WhiteBIT actively positions itself as a partner of Ukrainian state services, notably the Diia platform. Access to personal data of Ukrainians—both domestically and those who apply at consular offices abroad—in this configuration raises separate questions.
Another element is Coddan Nominee, the co-founder of WhiteBIT Solutions LLP. It is registered at the same Seychelles address as Whitebit LTD. Researchers link Coddan to offshore networks. In 2014–2016 years Coddan was among founders of Sofbiz, which transferred to organizers of a failed attempt to overthrow the government in Montenegro in October 2016 year about 1,5 million euros. The funds, according to Montenegrin investigation, passed through Cypriot accounts. The aim of the overthrow was to prevent Montenegro’s joining NATO.
Against these facts, NABU’s refusal to open a criminal case based on materials handed to detectives in January 2023 year, and the subsequent fate of the investigation that the court ordered to conduct, appear at least inconsistent. Public company registers in Lithuania, Estonia, and the United Kingdom remain open. They record a complex offshore structure, a change of formal owners, and the presence of individuals who publicly chose the Russian side. Whether this is enough for a full verification by Ukrainian law enforcement and anti-corruption bodies remains an unsettled question.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "WhiteBIT: «українська» біржа, офшори, колаборанти й російський слід". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: 368.media.
