On a crypto adventure with TravelbyBit, InvestbyBit and Travala
Cudos to @WSmith01984 & @Cryptadamist for taking this back to my attention - enjoy the research!
0. Introduction - TL;DR at the end
It all started with the closure of Binance Australia Derivate positions and accounts in Australia some days ago. As highlighted by Cryptoadamist, the company InvestbyBit Pty sounded pretty interesting - so let us take a look if we can find out more about this company.
1. The first look: InvestbyBit Pty Ltd (AU)
The official information available for free on the asic.gov.au don’t provide us with much information about this company. While doing research I came across the articel published by coindesk back in 2020 wtih the titel: “Binance Australia Is Actually Run by an Entity Linked to TravelbyBit” - Some quotes from the article below:
“CoinDesk has discovered Binance Australia is operated by InvestbyBit, a company that shares directors with tourist crypto payments provider, TravelbyBit.”
“It is operated by InvestbyBit Pty, a Queensland-based private company and a licensed Australian digital currency exchange.”
“As the name suggests, InvestbyBit has close ties to TravelbyBit, a crypto payment provider for the tourist industry in which Binance invested $2.5 million in late 2018.”
“InvestbyBit’s managing director is Jeff Yew, who was formerly TravelbyBit’s chief product officer.”
“TravelbyBit co-founder Caleb Yeoh and COO Shireen Yip were also involved in InvestbyBit until December 2019, a spokesperson confirmed.”
Since the beginning, TravelbyBit and InvestbyBit were connected. Binance invest $2.5 Million into TravelbyBit in 2018, before contracting InvestbyBit for their business in Australia.
TravelbyBit was founded by Mr. Yeoh and Ms. Yip, which were both involved in InvestbyBit.
According to crunchbase, TravelbyBit is based in Australia and currenty has 2 employees -
while it had two investors Binance and Queensland Government.
Now it gets interesting, because:
There is a company named TRAVELBYBIT PTY LTD in Australia - but there is also a company named TRAVELBYBIT LIMITED (7003713) in New Zealand
And surprise, there is not just a company named INVESTBYBIT in Australia - but also in New Zealand
But that are not even all companies Named “Travel”-“By”-“Bit” in Australia:
TRAVELBYBIT PTY LTD (already named before)
6/09/2017 - Deregistered: 26/06/2022
TRAVEL BY BIT
23/08/2017 - Registered - Business Name
TRAVELBYBIT
17/07/2017S - Cancelled - Business Name
TRAVELBYBIT
22/09/2017 - Cancelled - Business Name
TRAVELBYBIT EDU AUSTRALIA PTY LTD
6/06/2019 - Deregistered :10/08/2022
2. The InvestbyBit twins?
InvestbyBit Australia was founded on the 12 Sep 2017, InvestbyBit New Zealand on the 5th of November 2018.
I have to focus on InvestbyBit New Zealand in this section because of the few information available for InvestbyBit Australia.
InvestbyBit NewZealand has, according to the official NZ companyregister , no website, while its Trading Names are Binanace New Zealand and Binance NZ. The office address listed is, according to Google Maps, based at PKF Goldsmith Fox in Christchurch, NZ.
The history of Ownership seems pretty interesting:
Up to the 5. February 2022, it was owned by its siamesian twin in Australie: InvestbyBitPty Ltd.
After this, ownership changed to Bifinity UAB up to the 26. July 2022
While it is now owned by Binanace (AP) Holdings Limited - a company owned by Changpeng Zhao, while a Mr. Long is the Key Executive (no more information available on him).
The two names mentioned in the Annual Return Filings for 2019/20/21 mention Sam Jiun Haur Teoh and Caleb Seng Puay Yeoh as directors of InvestbyBit NZ. Nicholas Falzon was appointed as new director on the 19. Jan. 2022 while Teoh and Yeoh left the company the same day.
Some days after Mr. Falzon took over the position as director of the company, the first “larger” shareholder change happened:
InvestbyBit PTY LTD was removed as Shareholder while Bifinity UAB, located at Didzioji G18, Vilnius (Lithunia!), with United Arab Emirates as Origin (???) is mentioned as new shareholder.
Twenty days later, they changed the entry for Bifinity UABs Country of Origin from United Arab Emirates to Lithunia.
Bifinity - anyone remembers what has been the story about Bifinity?
”About a year ago, Binance announced the launch of Bifinity, a Lithuania-based “payments tech company power[ed] by Binance” that would serve as “the gateway of fiat to crypto exchange for Binance and other blockchains.” In reality, Bifinity was simply a rebranded Binance UAB (Lithuania), which was subjected to a 2021 warning by the Bank of Lithuania that Binance was operating without the necessary permits. - 7th February 2023”
So basicly, Binance was the owner of InvestbyBit NZ since 5th Feb 2022.
The next short sections only contains names of companies at the same address as listed for Mr. Teoh in this filing - while I found no indication that any of the companies has a relation to Binance or InvestbyBit. But just in case I missed something, my short dive into the location and perhaps related companies - you can skip to the next headline if you want:
A last changed happened on the 26th July 2022 - Bifinity UAB (Lit) was removed as shareholder and Binance (AP) Holdings Limited (IRL) took over InvestbyBit NZ.
The filing putting Mr. Falzon into his position as director also had a “change” in the address named for Mr. Teoh:
While most of the filing mentioned 65 Connaught Street in Australia, this filing contained the address: 1/315 Brunswick Street; Fortitude Valley Qld 4006; Australia
Not surprising at all, we find a co-working space at this address:
Level 1, The Precinct, 315 Brunswick Street
Other companies listed for this address (very likely all unrelated but just in case): The Queensland AI Hub, KAPICHE PTY LTD, Wagaya Japanese Restaurant, CLIPCHAMP PTY LTD, Defencex, humanitix.com, Queensland XR Hub, wearethi.org, 3 DOT DIGITAL PTY LTD (Active from 20 Sep 2018).
Comapies with a similar name (3 DOT) could perhaps be intersting - Like:
3DIGITAL PTY LTD (Founded 2021)
Former: 3 DIGITAL - Now: The Trustee for The Zuvela Family Trust
Companies with a 3 or something at the beginning of the name (suggest while searching for 3 Dot):
Former: MAMBA DIGITAL, 3 COMMA DIGITAL, THREE COMMA - Now: ILLIDAN ENTERPRISES PTY. LTD.
Or Companies outside of Australia, with the name 3 Dot Digital:
3 Dot Digital LTDA in Brazil with its director ANDERSON SAPUCAIA DOS SANTOS - who is also the director at 3 DOT LTDA (other directors: DIEGO LAURIANO DOS SANTOS, EDILSON CRUZ DIAS DO NASCIMENTO)
3. TravelbyBit NZ and Australia
TravelbyBit NZ had an owner: And it was TravelbyBit Pty LTD (AU) while TravelbyBit NZ was close on the 21. Sep 2022.
The two directors for TravelbyBit NZ were Caleb Yeoh and Shireen YIP - like they have been/are for TravelbyBit PTY Ltd.
An address change appeard in 2019 for Mr. Yeoh and Ms Yip → 65 Connaught Street, Sandgate, Queensland, 4017, Australia → 204/1 Gray Street, New Farm, Queensland, 4005, Australia, but this looks like a normal appartment change (Apartments and Boattours located here).
The last interesting “changes” in the data available is Mr. Yeohs departure from TravelbyBit PTY Ltd in Augusts 2022 while he now joined Novatech House Pty LTD, while Ms. Yip didnt join any Australian company.
The last filing for x NZ got my attention: Ceased business - discharged full its liabilities to its known creditors - and has DISTRIBUTED its surplus assets in accordance with its constitutions…. So if there was any money, who has it know?^^
4 TravelbyBit and its merge with Travala back in 2020
”Since being founded in 2017, Travala.com has established itself as one of the leaders in driving mainstream usage of cryptocurrencies for worldwide travel. After migrating to Binance Chain in 2019, Travala.com has continued striving to bring more transparent pricing, innovation and enhanced security to the travel industry while aiming to align online travel bookings with the universal ethos of decentralised technology. 20 May 2020 - travala.com”
Back in 2020, Travala.com and TravelbyBit decided to merge - while Travala.com decided to launch on the BNB Chain under the ticker AVA - the chart below was created with images from Coinmarketcap.
Before the merge, the token traded at $0.137 and reached the value of $0.3561 before the merge was reported officially (20. Mai 2022 - someone knew?), while the price droppped one week later, and so did the volume. In September 2020 we reached a new ATM with $1.825 with a 24h Volume of 5.1M, two months later, the token was trading back at $0.42, a little above the price when the merge was announced. A slow increased appeared up to the first January 2020, and then, in less then 3 month, the coin reached the value of $6.23 with a 24h trading volume of $17.77M, in the next 3 months, the price fell back to $1.6, doubled his value in the next 2 months and then slowly decreased back to $0.49 in July 2022 and is currently trading at $0.74.
Pretty interesting that they also coop with Crypto.com and “regular” financial instituations.
What else can we find about Travala.com?
In Jun 18, 2020, medium.com published an article titeled: “Leading Blockchain-based Travel Booking Platform Travala.com to Integrate ERD as Payment”
Elrond, perhaps some remember, had been pushed and advertised heavily on social media.
On Bitcointalk.org we find some more interesting information about Elrond before this June 2020 announcement (The 🚩 just represent the authors emotional reaction to the presented quotes and are no financial advice or whatever):
🚩 $BUSD Stable coin, Binance Lending & Staking
🚩 32%APR
🚩🚩🚩 GENESIS Staking🚩🚩🚩
4. Time to take a look at Travala.com
According to their T&C “TravelFront, a company registered in Cayman Islands with its registered address at Harbour Place, 2nd Floor, 103 South Church Street, P.O. Box 472, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-1106 (henceforth “TRAVALA.com”).” - the same address has been used in the past and was connected to Mamer-Squio Limited and Altima Restructure Fund Limited (connected to El Tejar Limited which had 110 people connected to it)
.
- Looking at the privacy policy, you will find an empty page:
While they are also searching for Travala Influencer:
While you can pay with a lot crypto currency, like our favorite one - Tether!
While they have a shit load of “Active Community” Members - like Changpeng Zhao - is also the shareholder of Travala - or Justin Sun - or The Crypto Dog whatever this is.
They further state a 616% Sales Growth rate on the same page while they increased their Audience bei 275%.
But Travala, has more to offer, f.e. exclusive luxery vacations at concierge.io - a travala.com company, according to their homepage. The FAQ has some interesting Q&A: You can pay with cash or Crypto - while you have to pay 100k before booking - while I am sure this all contains alot discretion!
According to their HP, the company related to consierge.io is: “Out There Content Pty Ltd (ACN 653 330 691) of Level 6/200 Adelaide Street, Brisbane City 4000 Australia.”
Okay, just a theoretical question:
How to hide a tree?
Well, in the forrest someone once told me. Either this, or someone is growing a forrest: 80 Results for companies based in Australie containing “Out There” (Pic below), while the Australian Business Register finds 146 entries.
Some other exemples:
Out There Outdoors Pty. Ltd. is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0120907557 and it was registered on 25/07/2006
Out To Sea Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0136964684 and it was registered on 06/05/2009
Out To Breakfast Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0146080524 and it was registered on 31/08/2010
Out There Super Fund Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0147827772 and it was registered on 13/12/2010
Out There Nt Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0155868741 and it was registered on 23/02/2012
Out Tonene Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0156535278 and it was registered on 28/03/2012
Out There Solutions Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0601677365 and it was registered on 06/09/2014
Out Walking Superannuation Pty. Ltd. is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0612870283 and it was registered on 07/06/2016
Out With A Bang Investment Holdings Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0613375376 and it was registered on 30/06/2016
Out With A Bang Property Holdings Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0613376542 and it was registered on 30/06/2016
Out Walking Property Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0614273059 and it was registered on 16/08/2016
Out Of Germany Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0617400941 and it was registered on 15/02/2017
Out There Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0620829932 and it was registered on 02/08/2017
Out With Audrey Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0628579493 and it was registered on 04/09/2018
Out West Excavations Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0628925244 and it was registered on 20/09/2018
Out West Enterprise Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0646229334 and it was registered on 27/11/2020
Out West Marine Services Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0648083827 and it was registered on 19/02/2021
Out Yonder Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0648889178 and it was registered on 22/03/2021
Out West Flooring Pty Ltd is a Australian Proprietary Company which Australian Company Number (ACN) is 0654477193 and it was registered on 14/10/2021
Time for a Tl;DR - you can find some polls below:
InvestbyBit (AU and NZ) and TravelbyBit (AU and NZ) shared the same executive - Mr Yeoh
InvestbyBit NewZealand was owned by InvestbyBit Australia for most of the time
In 2021 a new director was named at InvestbyBit - Mr. Falzon
After this, the ownership changed from InvestbyBit (AU) → Bifinity UAB in Vilnius (Based: UAE) → Bifinity UAB in Vilnius (Lithunia) and then to → Binance (AP) Holdings LTD in Ireland.
Bifinity UAB is Binance
TravelbyBit decided to merge with travala in 2020, while TravelbyBit (NZ) was officially closed on the 21. Sep 2022, a day after Mr Yeoh and Ms Yip left as directors while TravelbyBit (AU) ordered this step
TravelbyBit.com now redirects to Travala.com while the TOS at Travelbybit.com/contact etc show 2023
Travala has a native token (AVA) tas is traded on the BNB chain and on Binance and experience a crazy price development over the last years
Travala trips can be payed with Crypto - or Cash - in f.e. 2020 they added the highly speculative token Elrond as payment methode
Travala ownes the company consierge.io that offers luxery vaccation - while you have to pay 100k before booking or knowing how much it costs
Consierge.io’s company is based in Australia and named Out There Content Pty Ltd - while there are plenty of companies starting with “Out There”, founded over many years which could be related to Consierge.io or be involved in offering this kind of luxery vaccation where you will get everything
Let me ask you some questions:
You have some information to share? Leave me a message on Twitter @Annihil4tionGod or a way to contact you below this article!