While the Trump family grabs the headlines with their conflict-of-interest-infused multi-billion dollar crypto deals, Brittany Kaiser — the self-professed Cambridge Analytica “whistle blower and data rights advocate” — recently became CEO of a crypto company with a surprising number of links to Russia.
This story is like the perfect storm of several topics I have researched over the years – Cambridge Analytica, Russian oligarchs and kleptocracy, and most recently as I follow the money swirling around the Trump family, overnight crypto deals.
While there are many interesting facets of Brittany Kaiser’s latest crypto gig, note that there is no indication of any wrongdoing, criminal behavior or illegal activity with the people or companies covered in this story.
There is, however, an indication of many curious connections. In this age of too-many-bad-news-stories-to-absorb, the mainstream media has not yet reported on this, but it is a business venture worth following closely.
And in this era where some businesses, regardless of their expertise, can transform overnight into something else – Brittany Kaiser is now the CEO of a company that until recently was exclusively focused on developing cancer treatments.
From cancer treatments to crypto – Portage Biotech Inc. is renamed AlphaTON Capital Corp.
A prospectus supplement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week describes the transformation of Portage Biotech into crypto company AlphaTON Capital Corp. which trades on Nasdaq under the symbol ATON.
Chardan Capital Markets is the placement agent for the AlphaTON offering. Chardan is co-founded by Kerry Propper who is also a managing partner of ATW Partners, whom I mentioned in this piece on a $20 million investment in Trump’s meme coin by a logistics company where one of the largest former investors was the cousin of a Russian oligarch and in another story here.
The filing describes AlphaTon Capital’s immune-oncology treatment research and development business as well as their new digital asset business.
We have two primary lines of business. On September 2, 2025, we entered into agreements related to the Offering (as defined below) of approximately $38.2 million and the Loan (as defined below) of $35 million to be able to enter into the digital asset industry with a focus on The Open Network (TON) token. Since 2019, we have been engaged in researching and developing immune oncology treatments.
AlphaTON Capital appointed Brittany Kaiser CEO and Board Member
Last week AlphaTON Capital announced that it had appointed former Cambridge Analytica executive Brittany Kaiser as Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, and that it had launched a TON digital asset treasury strategy for the Telegram ecosystem.
The prospectus supplement filing shows three people on the leadership team: Brittany Kaiser, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member, Enzo Villani, Chief Investment Officer and Board Member and Yury Mitin, Chief Business Development Officer.
The filing notes that Brittany Kaiser will be paid $500,000 in cash and $500,000 in TON tokens, with a possible bonus of $1.5-6 million
There is also a slide showing the AlphaTON Capital strategic advisors:
- Anthony Scaramucci, Founder & Managing Partner, SkyBridge Capital
- Michael Terpin, Founder & CEO of Transform Ventures
- Jaime Rogozinski, Founder of Wall Street Bets
- Ted Moscovitz, Co-Founder, DecentraNet & Former SEC Attorney
- Matt McKibbin, General Partner Hyla Fund Management
- Hartej Sawhney, Founder & CEO Zakya
- Andrew Zubko, CTO, Mamorou AI and Mevton
The press release notes that AlphaTON has strategic relationships with leading institutions and platforms in the digital asset ecosystem, including BitGo, Animoca Brands, Kraken, SkyBridge, TwinStakes, Crypto.com, DWF Labs, P2P, DNA, and Alpha Sigma Capital Advisors.
AlphaTON plans to buy $100M TON tokens and develop apps for Telegram – TON and Telegram were created by Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov and his brother Nikolai
If you were to search the SEC filings for AlphaTON for the word ‘Russia’ (as I did) you would not get any results indicating the company has any links to people and entities with ties to Russia.
Our objective through holding TON token is to provide shareholders with exposure to the potential appreciation of TON token and to participate in the development of the TON ecosystem. The Company will capitalize on Telegram’s global scale and engagement to accelerate adoption of TON-based initiatives, including mini apps, decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, gaming platforms, and enterprise solutions.
But the crypto business strategy of AlphaTON is focused on The Open Network (TON) token which is the exclusive blockchain partner for the Telegram app which now claims to have over one billion users. Both TON and Telegram were developed by two brothers who launched Telegram in Russia in 2013 and later moved to Dubai.
It is important to note that there is no known direct connection from AlphaTON Capital to Pavel Durov or his brother – but the focus of AlphaTON on TON and the Telegram ecosystem makes understanding the background of the founders relevant.
Pavel Durov is the Russian-born founder of Telegram and is the younger brother of Nikolai Durov who developed TON (The Open Network) and Toncoin, the principal token.
The 2025 Forbes billionaire list puts Pavel Durov at #118 with a net worth of $17.1 billion. Durov is not only outrageously wealthy, but also lives a newsworthy life – he has over 100 children, far exceeding prolific baby-maker Elon Musk who has a mere 14 children.
Pavel Durov also faces criminal charges over illegal content and activities on his platform. He was arrested in France last year and barred from leaving the country until recently.
The story of Durov and Telegram is complex and often ambiguous, with Durov facing criminal charges yet claiming to protect data privacy rights of users. Durov has had a fraught relationship with authorities in Russia – yet Telegram is widely used by Russians. And, in addition to the complex Russian relationship, there is a whole other story related to the United Arab Emirates where Durov is a citizen and clearly close to the government which has advocated on his behalf with French authorities.
There is much more to Durov’s story that I will leave others to cover, but at a minimum, the choice of AlphaTON to focus their strategy on TON token and the Telegram platform is delving into a murky ecosystem and a platform that is widely used by Russians.
A crypto executive from Russia, Andrei Grachev, and his company DWF MaaS Limited are funding AlphaTON and agreed to subscribe for $15 million shares
According to this site some of the investors in Toncoin have included Sequoia capital, CoinFund, Hypersphere Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Bitget and Foresight Ventures, Runa Capital and DWF Labs – which leads to the next Russian link below.
The recent AlphaTON filing includes a Treasury Management Agreement between AlphaTon and DWF Maas Limited, and lists Andrei Grachev as the signatory for DWF.
The filing describes how DWF MaaS Limited is appointed to manage the TON treasury strategy.
Additionally, as part of the Offering, the Company entered into a treasury management agreement (the “DWF AMA”) with DWF MaaS Limited (“DWF”), pursuant to which the Company would appoint DWF to manage $25 million and implement the TON treasury strategy for the Company. Within two months, the Company will transfer to DWF an additional $50 million with no less than $25 million transferred each month. DWF is entitled to retain 100% of all profits earned until the balance with DWF reaches $150 million at which point 10% of the profits will then be shared with the Company. In consideration for the services provided, the Company shall issue 160,000 ordinary shares on the Closing to DWF, which shares shall vest linearly over a period of three (3) years from the date of issue to DWF.
The filing also indicates that DWF has agreed to subscribe for $15 million of AlphaTON Shares.
WHEREAS, pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, the Manager has agreed to subscribe for a total of fifteen million United States Dollars ($15,000,000 USD) in the Company’s Ordinary Shares (the “Manager’s Subscription”);
Earlier this year Andrei Grachev, who runs crypto firm DWF Labs, bought $25 million of Trump’s World Liberty Financial tokens.
A story by Jacob Silverman in The Nation, ‘The Shady Financial Past of a Major Trump Crypto Investor,’ described how Andrei Grachev was involved in several alleged investment scams and was convicted on fraud charges in Russia.
In April 2015, a Moscow criminal court charged Grachev and an accomplice with fraud… While on probation, Grachev was accused of participating in three crypto scams, including two in which he allegedly absconded with investor’s funds… In September 2018, Grachev was named CEO of the Russian branch of Huobi, a Singapore-based crypto exchange that would later be renamed HTX – and whose global adviser is Justin Sun, a top investor in Trymp’s crypto projects whose SEC fraud case was paused earlier this year. Under Grachev, Huobi Russia formed a partnership with VEB bank.
AlphaTON executive Yury Mitin worked in Moscow until 2020
Yury Mitin, the Chief Business Development Officer of AlphaTON and one of three named executives, is the Managing Partner of Canadian firm RSV Capital. According to the prospectus filing he is the sole owner of Red Shark Ventures, LLC (it’s not clear if or how these two entities are related).
According to his LinkedIn bio Yury Mitin had several jobs in Moscow, Russia from 2006 to 2020, including Director of Startup Academy at Skolkovo from 2014 to 2018, part-time contract radio host at Kommersant from 2010 to 2019, and Venture Partner at iTech Capital in Moscow from 2018 to 2020,
Half of the six people on the RSV team were involved with Skolkovo Innovation Center in Moscow — Russia’s version of Silicon Valley — which was founded by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Four of the six RSV team members either went to school and/or worked in Moscow previously per their LinkedIn bios.
RSV Capital Managing Partner Alex Matveev was a Managing Director for Renaissance Capital in Moscow from 2010 to 2012 and received an MBA from Skolkovo in 2013. RSV ‘Mentor’ Moty Crystal was a Professor for Negotiation Dynamics at Skolkovo from 2010 to 2022. And RSV Partner Mikhail Pugachev worked in Moscow in 2011.
Brittany Kaiser is now CEO of AlphaTON Capital, a company that is pursuing a crypto digital strategy focused on TON and Telegram, which was launched in Russia and is still heavily used by Russians. A key partner in the crypto strategy is Andrei Grachev who was investigated and charged with crypto scams in Russia. And one of the three executives on the leadership team worked in Russia until 2020.
In addition to this plethora of links to Russia, AlphaTON has yet another very interesting link to a wealthy businessman who was in the news related to Brexit.
AlphaTON was previously named Portage Biotech which was co-founded by Jim Mellon – a prior business partner of Brexit funder Aaron banks
The Portage Biotech website lists director Jim Mellon and says he was one of the founders. He was also the Executive Chairman of the Board of Manx Financial Group plc. Jim Mellon had purchased Manx Financial with Aaron Banks.
I wrote about Aaron Banks and Jim Mellon in this piece from 2018 and at that time Aaron Banks owned 29% of Manx and Jim Mellon owned 16%.
Jim Mellon had reportedly introduced Aaron Banks to Nigel Farage, and Aaron Banks was the largest funder of Brexit, reportedly funding £12 million in cash, loans and services to pro-Brexit causes.
In 2015 when Brittany Kaiser was an executive of Cambridge Analytica she appeared on a panel with Aaron Banks at a Leave.EU conference. After leaving Cambridge Analytica Brittany Kaiser later testified that she had pitched Cambridge Analytica to Banks.
AlphaTon executive Enzo Villani founded Alpha Sigma Capital with Michael Onghai who was a Board Director at a firm embroiled in SEC stock fraud charges with Barry Honig
AlphaTon’s Chief Investment Officer is Fiorzeno Villani, who also goes by Enzo Villani, who is the CEO of Alpha Transform Holdings and the owner of Alpha Sigma Capital Advisors, LLC. The Alpha Sigma Capital website also lists Michael Terpin as General Partner and Board Member. In August Michael Terpin was appointed to the Board of AlphaTON.
Villani founded Alpha Sigma Capital with Michael Onghai, who is listed as a Co-Founder and General Partner.
Michael Onghai has been a board director of a company called MGT Capital Investments since 2012. MGT Capital was one of three firms embroiled in charges the SEC brought against Barry Honig and others in 2018 for a $27 million stock fraud.
I have been following the Barry Honig SEC case because Honig was an investor in a company called Spherix, which was later renamed Dominari Holdings – where Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump are partial investors and advisors. I wrote about MGT Capital in this piece.
The 2018 SEC charges related to manipulating the share price of three companies. While the names of the companies were not disclosed, the Wall Street Journal reported that they were BioZone Pharmaceuticals Inc., MGT Capital Investments Inc. and MabVax Therapeutics Holdings Inc. Some repercussions from the 2018 charges are still happening. Last year the former CEO of MGT Capital Investments was fined $1.1 million for his involvement in the alleged pump-and-dump scheme.
Before Brittany Kaiser became CEO of AlphaTON she was Board Chairperson of Gryphon Digital which recently merged to form American Bitcoin co-founded by Eric Trump
Brittany Kaiser’s bio describes how she “has taken two of her companies public on Nasdaq as chairperson, including one of the world’s largest bitcoin mining companies Gryphon Digital Mining, Inc.”
Last month I published this piece on American Bitcoin, which was formed by a merger with Gryphon Digital–where Brittany Kaiser was a Board Director, and until late last year had been the Chairperson.
Eric Trump is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of American Bitcoin and also owns a 9.3% stake in the company. Donald Trump Jr. is also a stockholder. Last week when American Bitcoin shares began trading, Eric Trump’s stake was valued at around $590 million.
Brittany Kaiser keeps popping up in interesting places
In 2020 Brittany Kaiser was the campaign manager for the failed U.S. presidential campaign of Tether co-founder Brock Pierce. She recently gave $25,000 to a PAC supporting Eric Adams for Mayor of New York City – other PAC donors include Alexander Rovt and Len Blavatnik, who both made early fortunes in business deals with Russian oligarchs. Kaiser now runs a “luxury hospitality and lifestyle” crypto business called Chateaushi. She is a director of Lucy Scientific Discovery Inc., a psychotropics contract manufacturing company with the stock symbol LSDI. Last year Kaiser became an advisor to DrumWave, which purports to help people monetize their personal data and plans to launch a citizen digital wallet in Brazil.
For a self-professed whistleblower and data advocate, it is interesting that her recent ventures involved bringing one company public that has merged and morphed into American Bitcoin which has now made Eric Trump very rich. And she is now CEO of another company that went from cancer research to crypto and has an unusual number of ties to people linked to Russia.
Kaiser, if nothing else, is definitely a masterful self-advocate, who stands to earn a lot of money from her latest crypto deal. And she somehow manages to keep working on ventures that raise a lot of questions.