Patricia Denies Having Physical Offices After Allegations of the Startup Absconding

Earlier this week, a customer of the Estonian crypto exchange Patricia was seen at a building in Lagos, suspected to be Patricia’s office in a video that was posted on social media

The customer’s narrative was that the company had absconded with customers’ funds But Patricia’s founder and CEO, Hanu Fejiro, clarified in an official statement that the location in the video is not an active Patricia office.

Due to the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, Patricia switched to a fully remote working plan for safety, with team members across different continents. As of now, Patricia doesn’t have an operational office in Nigeria, as their business model is built for remote work.

Following the Nigerian Central Bank’s cryptocurrency trading ban, Patricia moved its headquarters to Estonia in July 2021, considering it a cornerstone for global expansion.

In April 2023, Patricia announced the launch of a Lagos-based Innovation Hub, offering free co-working spaces to developers and crypto enthusiasts.

In May 2023, Patricia reported a $2 million cyber hack, affecting only the Patricia Personal retail trading app. Withdrawals were paused for an internal audit.

In a bid to fix their problems, Patricia replaced customer assets held in Naira or Bitcoin with Patricia Tokens without customer consent, drawing criticism.

During a town hall meeting, Hanu Fejiro informed customers that Patricia raised funding and planned to start repayment.

Recently, Patricia asked one customer to swap their balance for company shares, citing it as a last resort to secure investments, to be managed by a trusted third party with an SEC licence, and repayment will start when the Patricia Plus app is relaunched.