In late May, a fugitive entrepreneur with control over a Bitcoin fortune walked into the lobby of an Abu Dhabi hotel for a routine meeting with a lawyer. Minutes later, he was surrounded by a group of security operatives, whisked away in a convoy of two cars and eventually blindfolded and bundled onto a secret private flight to his native Georgia. There, he was imprisoned and asked to transfer his Bitcoin to the Caucasus nation’s mercurial billionaire master. To reinforce the message, a goon was sent into his cell to beat him unconscious.
That, at least, is the entrepreneur’s account. According to him, this was the dramatic denouement to his relationship with the Georgian billionaire. More than a decade before, the two had been on the same side. The young man, George Bachiashvili, had worked for the billionaire, Bidzina Ivanishvili, helping manage his businesses and investments. Over time, as Mr. Ivanishvili secured almost total control over Georgia and Mr. Bachiashvili was drawn deeper into the world of cryptocurrency, things fell apart. Now they face each other as enemies, with one seemingly seeking the destruction of the other.
I spent many years covering the region as a journalist, and I have kept an eye on it ever since. A few months ago an acquaintance of mine in Tbilisi mentioned this story to me, describing it as a crypto heist with political overtones. The more I looked into it, the more significant it seemed. Over the past several weeks I have spoken with Mr. Bachiashvili’s lawyers, his mother and other people who know him. On the other side, I corresponded with Mr. Ivanishvili’s lawyer — who denied the allegations — and reviewed accounts of the case published by the Georgian media and watchdogs.
What I found is a story that tells us so much about our world today. It’s about the capture of entire states by individuals, a process unfolding in Hungary, Turkey and — alarmingly — the United States. It dramatizes the possibilities and perils of serving one all-powerful person, where blind loyalty is demanded and initiative punished, and underscores how easily people can become pawns in geopolitical games. But its most revealing feature is the technology underpinning it: cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin, created after the financial crash in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, whose real identity remains a mystery, initially appealed to idealists and libertarians. It has since set the standard for cryptocurrencies to come. Though proponents point to the virtues of decentralized finance and blockchain, the field is also rife with malfeasance, speculation and esoteric tokens. Even as more and more crypto fortune holders are targeted by heists and kidnappings, would-be autocrats — not least President Trump, whose $Trump coin has already reportedly brought $5 billion to his family — are getting in on the action.
Cryptocurrencies are a wild frontier of wealth and power. And they are at the heart of this crazy cautionary tale.
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The post Someone Tipped Me Off About a Crypto Story. What I Found Was Crazy. appeared first on New York Times.
