{"id":3190,"date":"2025-05-02T16:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T16:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/maya-parbhoes-credibility-crisis-suriname-unlikely-to-be-next-bitcoin-country\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T16:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T16:16:07","slug":"maya-parbhoes-credibility-crisis-suriname-unlikely-to-be-next-bitcoin-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/02\/maya-parbhoes-credibility-crisis-suriname-unlikely-to-be-next-bitcoin-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Maya Parbhoe\u2019s Credibility Crisis: Suriname Unlikely To Be Next Bitcoin Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n

Maya Parbhoe\u2019s Credibility Crisis: Suriname Unlikely To Be Next Bitcoin Country<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Last year, Maya Parbhoe quickly became well-known in the international Bitcoin community as she presented herself to the world as a presidential candidate in her country, Suriname<\/a>. She vowed to fight corruption in a country rife with it and to make bitcoin legal tender in Suriname to help get the country\u2019s citizens out of financial \u201csurvival mode.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parbhoe\u2019s story as an underdog candidate quickly gained traction as she made her case for how she could help Suriname as president both online and in person at conferences such as Bitcoin Amsterdam<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prominent members of the Bitcoin community such as Bitcoin mining analyst and leadership coach Daniel Batten<\/a> have vouched<\/a> for Parbhoe in recent months, while Jan3<\/a> CEO Samson Mow was the one who encouraged Parbhoe to run for president<\/a>. I, too, helped bring attention to her candidacy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, in recent weeks, some cracks have started to form in Parbhoe\u2019s story. Reports from those who have visited the country say that the image that Parbhoe has been projecting of herself and her candidacy to the world may be in part an illusion.<\/p>\n

The reports claim that Parbhoe has overstated her odds of becoming president of Suriname to the international community and that her political messaging within the country has had little to nothing to do with Bitcoin.<\/p>\n

What is more, some reports that are now reaching the international Bitcoin audience also contend that Parbhoe\u2019s candidacy is not well known within Suriname. And while Parbhoe has positioned herself as an advocate for those within her country who are struggling financially, one source told Bitcoin Magazine that she has disdain for the country\u2019s poor.<\/p>\n

On top of that, reported intel from the U.S. government estimates that Parbhoe may be running as \u201ccontrolled opposition,\u201d a political figure who serves as a placeholder for those that they purport to be against. According to Bitcoin Magazine\u2019s source, the same reported intel states Parbhoe\u2019s father was knowingly in business with drug traffickers and money launderers and that there\u2019s also a chance that the bank accounts for Parbhoe\u2019s companies are being used to launder money.<\/p>\n

Before diving deeper into the latter allegations, it\u2019s first important to understand the depths of corruption in Suriname and how Parbhoe claims to be an antidote to it.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe\u2019s Anti-Corruption Political Campaign<\/h2>\n

According to a 2022 report from the U.S. Department of State<\/a>, almost every sector of Suriname\u2019s government has been accused of corruption. These sectors include the central bank of Suriname and state-owned companies, including the country\u2019s national airline, Surinam Airways, and the government health insurance company, SZF.<\/p>\n

Some of the highest-ranking individuals in the country have also been involved in corruption, as the country\u2019s current vice president has been convicted of drug trafficking<\/a> and the country\u2019s former president, D\u00e9si Bouterse, was convicted of drug trafficking and murder<\/a> and sentenced to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe billed herself as an anti-corruption presidential candidate in Suriname\u2019s upcoming elections, which are slated to occur on May 25, 2025.<\/p>\n

As part of her messaging, she often mentions how her father was murdered<\/a> for speaking out against corruption in the country, and she says that she wants to carry on his legacy by speaking out against corruption in Suriname, as well.<\/p>\n

The part of this story that Parbhoe has left out as she\u2019s recounted it time and time again, though, is that her father had two Colombian partners in his casino business who he knew were also involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. According to a former senior advisor for Parbhoe\u2019s campaign, Shamay<\/a>, Parbhoe is aware that her father knew he was in business with these people, as she has told him as much.<\/p>\n

Micah Dunford, a retired Green Beret and CEO of Greyscale Protection<\/a>, a company that Parbhoe contracted to protect her during the beginning of April, when she gave birth to her daughter, informed Bitcoin Magazine that reported intel from the U.S. government states that Parbhoe\u2019s father was knowingly involved with \u201cnefarious actors\u201d and was murdered by \u201cnarco terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

[Author\u2019s note: Dunford would like to make it clear that he only shared the information above as well as other information in this piece about a client of his because he is a Bitcoin enthusiast and feels that Parbhoe is doing a great disservice to the Bitcoin community and to Bitcoin\u2019s reputation.]<\/em><\/p>\n

When I initially interviewed Parbhoe in July 2024, she offered an account of her father\u2019s business dealings that did not include his knowingly being in business with drug traffickers and money launderers. She stuck to her original story and denied that her father was in business with two Colombian drug traffickers when I recently reached out to her to ask her about the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father was in business with Dorsett Resorts,\u201d Parbhoe told Bitcoin Magazine via email.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a publicly traded company in the U.S. and he bought $500,000 in shares so he could be in investor meetings. My father went to the then Minister of Justice, Santhokhi<\/a>, and all authorities, including the three letter agencies, when he realized what was going on,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis case against de [De] Surinaamsche Bank<\/a> is currently being delayed by the president at our highest court of justice. The case against the CEO, COO and Manager from Dorsett goes to court on April 28th. I am his only living heir fighting this case.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Parbhoe\u2019s father was knowingly in business with drug traffickers and if Parbhoe knew that he knew this and continues to omit it from the story of her father\u2019s murder that she tells the media, what she\u2019s doing is part of a broader trend when it comes to some of the stories she tells \u2014 including the one about her becoming president of Suriname.<\/p>\n

Suriname\u2019s Electoral System<\/h2>\n

In Suriname\u2019s political system, a parliamentary democracy, voters elect candidates to represent them in parliament, the 51-member National Assembly.<\/p>\n

Historically, most voters vote for the leader of a political party, and if that leader won enough votes for more than one seat, the additional seats went to members of their same party in predetermined order based on their position on the party\u2019s candidate list \u2014 the higher on the list, the better the odds of winning a parliamentary seat.<\/p>\n

Although it was technically possible for a candidate lower on the list to be elected into parliament directly if enough people vote on this candidate specifically (rather than the party leader), this rarely happened.<\/p>\n

Once parliamentarians were elected, coalitions would form in parliament, and its members would then vote on a president. The National Assembly would then elect the president by a two-thirds vote \u2014 34 of 51.<\/p>\n

This dynamic will partially shift in upcoming elections, though, as Suriname is implementing a new \u201cone person, one vote\u201d system.<\/p>\n

Suriname\u2019s New Electoral System: One Person, One Vote<\/h3>\n

In August 2020, the Constitutional Court of Suriname ruled the former electoral law in Suriname unconstitutional in that it violated the principle of one person, one vote, according to the aforementioned 2022 report from the U.S. Department of State.<\/p>\n

The document states that \u201cthe court found that votes in rural, less populated districts outweighed those in urban, more populated areas, since it required far fewer votes to win a seat for the National Assembly in rural districts [and it] mandated that the government and National Assembly amend the legislation as soon as possible for the 2025 elections to take place on time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the new system, each voter votes for one member of parliament, and each party has 51 candidates for the 51 seats of parliament.<\/p>\n

Seats are divided between the different political parties based on the total number of votes on all candidates for these parties. These seats then go to the candidates of each of these parties that got the most votes individually. So, if a political party gets (say) five seats in parliament, those five seats will go to the five candidates of that party with the most individual votes; their ranking on the party\u2019s candidate list is irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Any group of at least seven members of parliament (regardless of party affiliation) can submit a candidate for president. Parliament then votes based on that list of candidates, and a two-thirds majority vote determines who wins the presidency.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe\u2019s Strategy To Become President<\/h3>\n

Parbhoe, who is not the head of the political party with which she\u2019s affiliated, the National Party of Suriname (NPS)<\/a>, is looking to capitalize on this new system by aiming to get as many votes as possible in the general election.<\/p>\n

She said that she would need 5,380 votes to win a seat in parliament, which she believes she can get. (This seems logical in that 283,834 people voted in Suriname\u2019s 2020 election<\/a>, and if each of the 51 candidates elected to parliament received 5,380 votes, this would mean that 274,380 people voted, which is very close to the voter turnout from the previous election. Also, under the old electoral system, Parbhoe would have needed a minimum of 7,000 votes<\/a> as a candidate based in Paramaribo, the largest constituency in the country.)<\/p>\n

A poll<\/a> conducted on April 21, 2025 shows that NPS may win 10 seats in parliament (7 more than they currently have<\/a>), but the poll doesn\u2019t indicate which of NPS\u2019s candidates are most popular.<\/p>\n

Poll from <\/em>de Ware Tijd<\/em><\/a>, one of four daily newspapers in Paramaribo, Suriname. (\u201cZetels\u201d translates to \u201cseats\u201d)<\/em><\/p>\n

However, this doesn\u2019t matter much to Parbhoe anyway because winning a seat in parliament is what she calls a \u201cworst case scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is because her goal isn\u2019t to become a member of parliament \u2014 it\u2019s to become president.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not running for a seat in the National Assembly,\u201d she wrote in an email to me.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe is aiming for a best-case scenario in which she gets the most votes in the country, as \u201cusually, the candidate with the most votes gets elected by members of parliament to become president,\u201d according to her. (What she didn\u2019t mention, though, is that the candidate who almost always gets the most votes is the leader of the biggest political party.)<\/p>\n

She acknowledged that the leader of NPS, Gregory Rusland, is one of her biggest competitors. A report<\/a> shows that in a recent poll on the most popular presidential candidates in Suriname, Rusland ranked fourth. (Parbhoe wasn\u2019t mentioned in the report.)<\/p>\n

Parbhoe believes that part of her edge is that she\u2019s a younger candidate (She is 37 years old). She noted that Rusland is over 60 years of age, while the majority of the voters in the country are under the age of 45.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe also added that \u201cmost of the candidates that have announced that they are running for president have an equal shot [of winning] as I do,\u201d without commenting on what those odds are.<\/p>\n

The Decreased Significance of Rank Within Political Parties in Suriname<\/h3>\n

In a Reddit post<\/a> on April 13, Michel Greijmans, a businessman based in Cura\u00e7ao who visited Suriname for work in February, commented that Parbhoe has less of a chance of winning the presidency because she is ranked number 21 within the NPS.<\/p>\n

What Greijmans didn\u2019t acknowledge, though \u2014 probably because he was not privy to this information \u2014 is that Parbhoe, by her own account, strategically selected this ranking of number 21 as an ode to Bitcoin<\/a>, because rank within a party is mostly irrelevant now anyway.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe first informed me of her doing this via text weeks back when her rank within the party was first announced, and she reiterated this to me in our most recent communications.<\/p>\n

Had she not selected number 21, she said she would have opted for a ranking at the bottom of the list of her party (number 50 or 51). In Surinamese parliamentary system \u2014 at least in the older version of it \u2014 when a candidate selects the lowest ranking within a party, it\u2019s a signal that they aren\u2019t necessarily running for a seat in parliament, but are on the list just to endorse a particular party. (This type of candidate is sometimes referred to as a Lijstduwer<\/a>, which translates to \u201clist pusher,\u201d and it exists in the Surinamese and Dutch parliamentary systems. List pushers often include celebrities, artists, or athletes who have no intention of serving in parliament.)<\/p>\n

This type of candidate is sometimes referred to as a Lijstduwer<\/a>, which translates to \u201clist pusher,\u201d and it exists in the Surinamese and Dutch parliamentary systems. List pushers often include celebrities, artists, or athletes who have no intention of serving in parliament. (Such a candidate in Suriname\u2019s current electoral race is Ingrid Bouterse-Waldring, widow of the late D\u00e9si Bouterse, the aforementioned former president of Suriname. She\u2019s ranked number 51 within the NPS.)<\/p>\n

So, aside from Parbhoe\u2019s being a new, young candidate, what else is she doing to differentiate herself from the competition?<\/p>\n

Well, she\u2019s broadcasted to the international Bitcoin community that she plans to replace Suriname\u2019s national currency, which has an average yearly inflation rate of 8.7%<\/a> and which spiked as high as 59% in 2020<\/a>, with bitcoin.<\/p>\n

However, those who\u2019ve visited Parbhoe in Suriname and who have reported back to the international Bitcoin community have said that Bitcoin is hardly part of her messaging within the country and that her strategy to replace the national currency with bitcoin won\u2019t work.<\/p>\n

The Reality On The Ground: Parbhoe\u2019s Lack Of A Bitcoin Strategy<\/h2>\n

Greijmans, in his aforementioned Reddit post, mentioned that, in his experience on the ground in Suriname, no one outside of Bitcoin circles knew who Parbhoe was and that those within Bitcoin circles in the country didn\u2019t want to talk about her.<\/p>\n

Dr. Jack Kruse, who\u2019d met with Parbhoe on the ground in Suriname in February and even gave a nationally-televised talk on reforming Suriname at an NPS event during this visit, claimed on X that Greijmans\u2019 experience was comparable to his own.<\/p>\n

\n

I was in Suriname for two weeks with Maya and I can confirm everything in this recent report from Reddit is factual and comparable to my own data and research. The bitcoin community is being SCAMMED. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Trust, Verify: Maya Parbhoe, \u201cThe Next Bitcoin President of Suriname\u201d\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/O2nVkPXWWe<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Pleb Kruse = BTC foundationalist in exile (@DrJackKruse) April 14, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

I followed up with Greijmans to learn more about his experience on the ground.<\/p>\n

Greijmans\u2019 Take<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe fact that the people I spoke to didn\u2019t want to talk about her raised concerns for me,\u201d Greijmans told Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

Greijmans didn\u2019t speak up about his experience immediately after his visit, though, because he felt it was possible that members of the local Bitcoin community were simply trying to distance the community that they were building from her campaign.<\/p>\n

He also noted that members of the Bitcoin community on the ground in Suriname are doing \u201ctremendous work\u201d and that he doesn\u2019t want the damage that Parbhoe might be doing to blow back on the community there. (Kemal Ya\u015far, Marketing Director for Blink Wallet<\/a>, confirmed that the number of transactions by Blink users in Suriname increased 2,389% from July 2024 to March 2025.)<\/p>\n

To Parbhoe\u2019s credit, she established the Bitcoin community that Greijmans visited, Bitcoin Sranan<\/a>, in 2021.<\/p>\n

Greijmans also noted that as of the second week of April, Parbhoe had revamped her website<\/a>, removing all claims that she is running for president.<\/p>\n

His main issue with Parbhoe was that she was projecting an image to the world about her candidacy that\u2019s far from the reality on the ground.<\/p>\n

He said that one of his motivations in writing the Reddit piece was to let the international community know that Parbhoe seemed to be taking advantage of the fact that it was easy for her to project a certain image to an international audience, as her actions are difficult to audit for those who aren\u2019t on the ground in Suriname.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to at least alert people like, \u2018Hey, listen, you\u2019re dealing with a culture, a political system, a country that\u2019s very opaque to its international audience,\u2019\u201d said Greijmans.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe\u2019s Chief Economic Advisor\u2019s Take<\/h3>\n

Rahim Taghizadegan, Parbhoe\u2019s chief economic advisor, claimed in a recent X post<\/a> that, when he visited Suriname, he also found that the reality on the ground was different from the image Parbhoe had been projecting to the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did not surprise me in the slightest that the on-the-ground reality \u2014 regarding both Bitcoin adoption and Maya\u2019s actual role \u2014 fell significantly short of the media hype,\u201d wrote Taghizadegan.<\/p>\n

Taghizadegan also mentioned that he\u2019d communicated to Parbhoe that her plan to make bitcoin the primary currency in Suriname wasn\u2019t realistic, an assessment she wasn\u2019t fond of.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaya disliked my assessment that her proposal to convert the national currency directly into [b]itcoin by governmental decree was unfeasible,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, Taghizadegan also noted Parbhoe\u2019s shortcomings as a businesswoman.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer business track record revealed deficiencies in judgment and execution, but this was hardly unexpected and quite typical for someone transitioning into politics,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe\u2019s Former Senior Campaign Advisor\u2019s Take<\/h3>\n

Shamay, who first met Parbhoe at Adopting Bitcoin El Salvador<\/a> in November 2024 and began communicating with her soon after, visited Parbhoe in Suriname twice, once in January and once in February of this year, also voiced concerns about Parbhoe based on her lack of ability to execute as well as her poor business acumen.<\/p>\n

While he was with Parbhoe on the ground, Parbhoe tearfully told him that the companies she\u2019d founded \u2014 Quickship Logistics<\/a>, Icarus Geosystems<\/a>, and Daedalus Labs<\/a> \u2014 weren\u2019t profitable, but that she had to keep up the image that they were successful or she wouldn\u2019t be respected as a young <\/strong>woman <\/strong>in politics in Suriname. He added that she was very fearful that this fact might get out and ruin her reputation.<\/p>\n

Another source familiar with the matter confirmed that Quickship Logistics is not profitable, and that Parbhoe uses funds from the company to pay for personal expenses.<\/p>\n

Shamay was also taken back at how disorganized Parbhoe\u2019s political campaign was.<\/p>\n

He said that the campaign was being run from her living room couch with a few unpaid team members and that there was \u201cno discussion about bitcoin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cParbhoe did not have a Bitcoin platform within Suriname,\u201d said Shamay.<\/p>\n

Because of what he saw in his visits with Parbhoe, he withheld a mid-six-figure donation that he planned to give to her campaign.<\/p>\n

A Greyscale Security Team Members\u2019 Take<\/h3>\n

One of the members from Greyscale\u2019s security team who went to Suriname wasn\u2019t as concerned about Parbhoe\u2019s lack of focus on bitcoin, which he still noted, as he was with how Parbhoe treated the less fortunate in the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe speaks to people based on how they dress and how they present themselves,\u201d the security team member told Bitcoin Magazine. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are poor, you can tell that she does not give a flying shit about them. We would walk through the streets, and if somebody walked past her or walked too close to her, she would act like they were dirty \u2014 she did not like these types of people being around her,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

(Taghizadegan also commented on Parbhoe\u2019s behavior toward others in his X post. He wrote that \u201cShe was unkind to many people.\u201d)<\/p>\n

Parbhoe also demeaned and belittled both this security team member and his partner on the ground, he said.<\/p>\n

According to the security team member, she asked him how much money he made, and when he told her, she responded by saying, \u201cI didn\u2019t know you\u2019re one of the poors.\u201d<\/p>\n

The security team member also noted that Parbhoe\u2019s critique of him seemed ironic since Parbhoe herself didn\u2019t seem to have much money (though, he reported that she owns a Mercedes-Benz), and almost every source for this piece said that Parbhoe either owes them money, owes someone that they know money, or owes someone with whom she works money.<\/p>\n

According to the security team member, she repeatedly asked to either borrow money from him or for him to pay for things like her groceries or dinner at a restaurant because she couldn\u2019t afford them.<\/p>\n

Ironically, Parbhoe claims that having to pay Greyscale, which provided its services to her at a discount, is part of the reason she doesn\u2019t have the funds she needs to run her campaign properly or to help those she claims to help.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My] chances [of winning] decrease if I pay companies like Greyscale 3x for [a] contract and they deplete us out of funds,\u201d wrote Parbhoe, alluding to the notion that Greyscale had overcharged her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have projects for the teachers (painting schools, materials for the kids), orphanages (we still deliver food daily and have also planned sports\/play days for them) and nurses (they\u2019ve planned delivery of 70 bags with products new moms need) with deadlines and now less resources to complete,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I need to pick between airtime, billboards, and actual projects that help people, I will always pick the latter.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Shamay told me that she recently purchased a billboard for her campaign for $35,000.)<\/p>\n

Parbhoe also suffers from insomnia, according to the security team member, and every hour and a half during the night, Parbhoe would come out of her room and turn the lights on in the room in which the security team members were sleeping on couches.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe would flip the lights on and say \u2018If I\u2019m awake, you\u2019re awake,\u2019\u201d said the security team member.<\/p>\n

What is more, early one morning, she made the security team member with whom I spoke move to the floor to sleep.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe came out to the couch and said, \u2018You\u2019re in my spot \u2014 get out. You can sleep on the floor,\u2019\u201d said the security team member. \u201cFor the rest of the time that we stayed at that house, I just slept on the floor in the kitchen, and it was horrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, this security team also said that Parbhoe became paranoid that her stepfather was trying to kill her because he\u2019d left a cereal box on a panini press in her hospital room. She thought he was trying to start a fire next to her bed.<\/p>\n

This sort of paranoia and irrational thinking had started weeks earlier, and the broader world started to get a glimpse of it on April 2, 2025.<\/p>\n

The SOS and \u2018Help\u2019 Messages On X<\/h2>\n

On April 2, Parbhoe posted both a \u201cHelp\u201d message on X and also recorded a 6-minute Space entitled \u201cLife and family under threat. SOS,\u201d which didn\u2019t feature any evidence of a threat. Both the tweet and the Space were only recently deleted.<\/p>\n

Many in the Bitcoin community who are on X became concerned, as there were no reports of her status for the hours that followed.<\/p>\n

Hours after the original messages, she posted another message on X in which she stated \u201cThe US Secret Service is here in Suriname to protect me and to help me uncover corruption.\u201d (This message has since been deleted.)<\/p>\n

Days later, Parbhoe stated in an X post that it was because she was \u201cunder heavy medication and recovering from childbirth\u201d that she inaccurately posted about the Secret Service protecting her. The latter portion of that statement is untrue, though, because Parbhoe hadn\u2019t given birth by the time she\u2019d published the X post.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, two sources confirmed that Parbhoe was under no immediate threat when she made the initial two posts.<\/p>\n

Hiring Greyscale<\/h2>\n

In the days leading up to Parbhoe\u2019s entering the hospital in preparation to give birth, she grew increasingly paranoid that \u201cthey\u201d were going to kill or harm her while she was giving birth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u201d included the hospital staff and her political opposition. Dunford surmised that Parbhoe\u2019s emotional state in this situation was a result of a combination of her being both paranoid and irrational in part because she was being \u201ccontrolled by the opposition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is under their thumb,\u201d said Dunford. \u201cThey most likely wanted to cut ties because she wasn\u2019t endorsed to run a campaign and\/or went off the reservation either politically or businesswise with whomever she is in bed with \u2014 which is most probably a combo of government [officials] and narcos, which are synonymous in Suriname.\u201d (More on this in the following section.)<\/p>\n

Around this time, Parbhoe sent repeated erratic messages to the cofounder of Bitcasa Homes<\/a>, Amanda Dawn.<\/p>\n

Dawn had been introduced to Parbhoe a year and a half prior, and the two had worked together in a small capacity as their respective companies (Daedalus Labs<\/a> for Parbhoe) were focused on the intersection of bitcoin and real estate.<\/p>\n

On March 26, 2025, Parboe had reached out to Dawn, frantically claiming that her life was being threatened.<\/p>\n

Dawn was rattled by the desperation in Parbhoe\u2019s voice. (I can relate to how Dawn likely felt, as I\u2019ve received my fair share of panicked messages from Parbhoe, especially as her child\u2019s due date approached. She has a strong ability to arouse sympathy and\/or empathy from those with whom she engages.)<\/p>\n

Dawn, who believed deeply in Parbhoe\u2019s alleged pro-Bitcoin mission in Suriname, reached out to a contact at Bitcoin Veterans<\/a>, stating that she needed to quickly find protection for Parbhoe.<\/p>\n

That contact connected her with Dunford at Greyscale.<\/p>\n

Dunford was familiar with Parbhoe\u2019s purported mission to bring Bitcoin to the people of Suriname and agreed to offer his company\u2019s services to Parbhoe while waiving his personal fee.<\/p>\n

In the following days, Dunford sent two of his team members to guard Parbhoe, one a combat medic who is capable of delivering babies, as she gave birth.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe didn\u2019t sign the contract with Greyscale, as she claimed she was being forced to do so under duress, but Dunford sent help regardless. (Parbhoe never did sign the contract, which included a nondisclosure agreement. This is another reason Dunford is comfortable sharing information about the ordeal.)<\/p>\n

Peter Kroll, founder of BTC Cura\u00e7ao<\/a>, sent bitcoin to Parbhoe for the purpose of paying the Greyscale bill.<\/p>\n

Kroll also donated 0.5 bitcoin to Parbhoe during the latter part of 2024 and urged others to follow his lead by donating, though, he now regrets doing so.<\/p>\n

He said that he very much believed in Parbhoe \u2014 someone he\u2019d met through the virtual Bitcoin community Eenentwintig<\/a>. He added that she had credibility because she\u2019d \u201cput time into the Bitcoin community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parbhoe gave birth the day the Greyscale guards arrived.<\/p>\n

And while Dunford\u2019s men were with Parbhoe in the hospital and back at her home, a contact in the U.S. government shared intel on Parbhoe with Dunford.<\/p>\n

That intel included information about Parbhoe being \u201ccontrolled opposition\u201d and potentially being involved with money laundering.<\/p>\n

Controlled Opposition<\/h2>\n

Dunford shared that he was taken aback when he received this information on Parbhoe, as it shattered his illusion of her.<\/p>\n

He wanted to believe she was the next Nayib Bukele \u2014 another pro-Bitcoin president \u2014 but what he learned from the intel changed his views on Parbhoe.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s linked in with nefarious people,\u201d Dunford told Bitcoin Magazine. \u201cShe\u2019s controlled opposition \u2014 it\u2019s not a real candidacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

As mentioned, controlled opposition refers to a situation where voters feel they have an option in an election, but the option is either owned financially or coerced into complying with the sitting power in some manner.<\/p>\n

In Parbhoe\u2019s case, Dunford believes that both are at play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe powers that be in the country have coerced her through financial manipulation and they own her,\u201d said Dunford.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis way, they could ensure that even if she got into some sort of power, that they would never be extradited to the EU,\u201d he added. (When I first spoke with Parbhoe in July 2024, she said that the leaders of her country fear extradition, because, if extradited, they would be tried for the international crimes they\u2019ve allegedly committed.)<\/p>\n

\u201cShe puts on a policy platform that would make the people think, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019re going to fight the powers \u2014 we\u2019re going to implement Bitcoin, blah, blah, blah, and that just isn\u2019t true because they are pulling her puppet strings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dunford also shared that he is a specialist in controlled opposition and information operations (i.e., propaganda campaigns). He added that he trains special operations forces (e.g., Green Berets) on these topics.<\/p>\n

On the evening before the two Greyscale security team members left Suriname, \u201cunknown entities, perhaps members of national security services,\u201d attempted a forced entry into the hotel room in which the two Greyscale team members were staying to \u201cchange a lightbulb,\u201d as the unknown persons put it, according to Dunford.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking as a guy that does this, if you have bad placement on a microphone or a camera, you\u2019re not going to know that until you get back and you start to assess the audio and video \u2014 you might realize you can\u2019t hear the conversation or that there\u2019s something blocking the camera,\u201d explained Dunford.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, they sent five really burly dudes to get into the hotel room to fix the batteries and the light or whatever it was, but we assessed that they were making a battery, camera, or microphone adjustment to correct their initial placement.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was in touch with these two Greyscale team members via text as this situation in the hotel played out, and they seemed genuinely concerned about their safety.<\/p>\n

With that said, I was not able to find further information to corroborate that Parbhoe is \u201ccontrolled opposition,\u201d as Dunford put it.<\/p>\n

Is Parbhoe Involved With Money Laundering?<\/h2>\n

According to Dunford, intel derived from an artificial intelligence system built by the U.S. government states that there\u2019s a highly credible chance that the bank accounts for Quickship Logistics and Icarus Geosystems are being used to launder funds.<\/p>\n

A source privy to bank records at Quickship Logistics said he didn\u2019t get the sense that this sort of activity was happening through the company\u2019s bank accounts, though.<\/p>\n

If one of Parbhoe\u2019s accounts were being used for such activity, it would more likely be the account for Icarus Geosystems, a company that builds infrastructure such as roads in remote regions of the country.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe is the financial director of this company, and six-figure sums of money frequently flow through a bank account for the company, as per bank records obtained by Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

I asked Parbhoe via email what some of the six-figure deposits were for via email and she responded with the following:<\/p>\n

\u201cThough Icarus is a private company, I can share that that\u2019s revenue from projects currently in progress at Newmont and housing development and a retaining wall\/channel project in Guyana.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Newmont is short for Newmont Corporation<\/a>. The company has a subsidiary called Newmont Suriname, LLC \u2014 formerly Suriname Gold Company, LLC \u2014 which is a partially state-owned company.)<\/p>\n

A company with the word \u201cNewmont\u201d in its name did in fact make a six-figure deposit on February 14, 2025.<\/p>\n

In my research, I couldn\u2019t find anything to confirm or corroborate the notion that funds are being laundered through Parbhoe\u2019s companies\u2019 bank accounts, nor that she is involved with money laundering in any other way.<\/p>\n

Delusional, But Not A Criminal Mastermind<\/h2>\n

A number of sources described Parbhoe as \u201cdelusional,\u201d \u201cnarcissistic,\u201d and \u201cmentally unstable,\u201d but almost all of them were reluctant to call her a criminal.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s more delusional than fraudulent,\u201d is how one source put it. \u201cShe\u2019s also very good at spinning the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

In my personal interactions with Parbhoe, I\u2019ve witnessed her stretch the truth on a number of occasions.<\/p>\n

An example of this is last year at Bitcoin Amsterdam<\/a> where I overheard her tell someone that she is an Oxford Alumni, when, in reality, she\u2019s only completed a weeks-long certificate program at the university \u2014 not a proper degree.<\/p>\n

Where Did the Bitcoin Donations Go?<\/h2>\n

According to Mick, the founder of Geyser Fund<\/a>, Parbhoe\u2019s Geyser campaign raised approximately $70,000 worth of bitcoin, as per bitcoin at a price of approximately $90,000.<\/p>\n

(Other donors also donated to her campaign outside of Geyser, but those amounts haven\u2019t been made public.)<\/p>\n

Because of recent reports of Parbhoe\u2019s lack of forthrightness, Geyser Fund has taken down<\/a> Parbhoe\u2019s \u201cMaya for President\u201d donations page.<\/p>\n

For some time, Parbhoe published a campaign funds tracker, and she seemed to take pride in being transparent about where the funds were going.<\/p>\n

\n

Huge milestone for campaign transparency! <\/p>\n

For the first time in history, a candidate can share live updates on how campaign funds are being spent. No more static overviews, now you can track the campaign balance and expenses in real time, directly on our website!<\/p>\n

This is all\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/5Obp961rc4<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Maya Parbhoe (@MayaPar25) March 20, 2025<\/a>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

She\u2019s recently taken down the campaign funds tracker<\/a>, though.<\/p>\n

When I asked Parbhoe for an overview of expenses, she provided me with a link to this document<\/a> (screenshot below), which only has eight line items.<\/p>\n

A screenshot of Parbhoe\u2019s campaign expenses document.<\/em><\/p>\n

Taghizadegan mentioned in his X post that some funds were spent on bringing renowned economist Arthur Laffer<\/a> to Suriname to publicly voice his support for Parbhoe on the ground and on camera.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe provided more information on this in my email communication with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cArthur Laffer was engaged by a third party and paid by him, John, who himself negotiated terms with Dr. Laffer,\u201d wrote Parbhoe. \u201cHe is engaged to be economic advisor once [I\u2019m] elected.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Parbhoe didn\u2019t make it clear who \u201cJohn\u201d was, but judging by the context in the email, it seems he was a major donor to the campaign.)<\/p>\n

While in Suriname, Parbhoe conducted an on-camera interview with Laffer, which was published via the Bitcoin Magazine YouTube channel.<\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

(When Parbhoe reached out to me about publishing the video, which I helped facilitate, she did not mention that Laffer was paid to visit Suriname.)<\/p>\n

In the interview with Parbhoe, Laffer spoke about Parbhoe\u2019s plans for Bitcoin adoption on the ground in Suriname.<\/p>\n

However, there are no reports of him speaking about Bitcoin adoption with those with whom he engaged while on the ground in Suriname, despite the fact that he spoke with NPS about money and government financing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave a presentation for the NPS, which had a great impact on how the party views taxes and monetary incentives,\u201d wrote Parbhoe.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe also paid Daniel Batten<\/a> $2,500 in total, though half of that funding came from Daedalus Labs, according to her.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe wrote that Batten\u2019s services were helpful in part because the breathing techniques he taught her helped her to cope with a situation that occurred approximately one week before she gave birth in which she was hospitalized and claims she was taken off of IV and left without water while she needed to be hydrated. She communicated this story to me shortly after this happened and believed it was an attempt on her life.<\/p>\n

Shamay, who claims to have worked for her pro bono, said that she\u2019d agreed to pay her campaign manager $15,000 per month, but her most recent campaign manager quit after only being paid $8,500 after two months.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe\u2019s aforementioned billboard expense cost the campaign $35,000, and she paid Greyscale $27,000 for its services.<\/p>\n

Parbhoe Continues On<\/h2>\n

Parbhoe continues to campaign despite the challenges she\u2019s faced as of late. However, she also says that the birth of her child has put the election in perspective for her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese last few weeks, I have undergone more trauma than I have endured my entire life,\u201d wrote Parbhoe.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thought of losing my daughter, if you had given me 21 million Bitcoin, I would have spent it all to save her life. No election is worth her life,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, I don\u2019t care if I win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parbhoe also stated that whether or not she wins the election, she\u2019ll continue to fight for Bitcoin adoption in Suriname past election day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do my best, I\u2019ll fight for [my daughter\u2019s] future and continue beyond May 25th,\u201d wrote Parbhoe.<\/p>\n

She concluded her final email to me with a quote from Bitcoin\u2019s creator, Satoshi Nakamoto:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe me or don\u2019t get it, I don\u2019t have time to try to convince you, sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Parbhoe seemed to miss in making this final statement is that campaigning for political office is literally the process of convincing people that you\u2019re the right person for the job. And, right now, many, including a number of former members of her team, don\u2019t seem to feel that she is.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know for sure whether Parbhoe is controlled opposition or if she\u2019s just someone struggling to execute a vision.<\/p>\n

But I do know that trust is a difficult thing to win back \u2014 especially when it comes to the Bitcoin community \u2014 and her lack of forthrightness has done considerable damage to her reputation.<\/p>\n

Having been in touch with Parbhoe on a semi-regular basis for the past eight months, I\u2019d imagine, in her mind, her plan looked something like this:<\/p>\n

Announce underdog candidacy and leverage connections in the Bitcoin space.<\/p>\n

Bitcoiners from around the world come to my aid with donations and other types of campaign assistance.<\/p>\n

Forge a narrow path to victory to highest political position in Suriname, despite very low odds of such an outcome.<\/p>\n

Some of this played out. The problem was that many who supported her eventually rescinded their efforts when they saw up close what was happening with Parbhoe.<\/p>\n

But the most maddening part of this whole scenario is that if Dunford is right in that Parbhoe is \u201ccontrolled opposition\u201d \u2014 that her campaign has been little more than a ruse and that she\u2019s working with \u201cnefarious actors\u201d behind the scenes \u2014 then the majority of this piece was written for naught and Parbhoe should simply be classified as the first major scammer of this cycle.<\/p>\n

If this is the case, please accept my apology for helping to platform Parbhoe via Bitcoin Magazine.<\/p>\n

And whether this is the case or not, this situation has been a strong reminder of the popular Bitcoin-related adage: Don\u2019t trust, verify.<\/p>\n

Some of us \u2014 myself included \u2014 should not so readily believe that certain characters in this space, especially political figures, are everything they purport to be.<\/p>\n

This post Maya Parbhoe\u2019s Credibility Crisis: Suriname Unlikely To Be Next Bitcoin Country<\/a> first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine<\/a> and is written by Frank Corva<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bitcoin Magazine Maya Parbhoe\u2019s Credibility Crisis: Suriname Unlikely To Be Next Bitcoin Country Last year, Maya Parbhoe quickly became well-known in the international Bitcoin community as she presented herself to the world as a presidential candidate in her country, Suriname. She vowed to fight corruption in a country rife with it and to make bitcoin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digkrypton.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}