10 Ukrainian Founders’ Stories on Leading Web3 Businesses During the War and Bear…

Victoria Loskutova

Victoria is an EiC of WOW Summit, a badass writer and rebel that stands for equality and inclusion in tech and Web3.

*Writing the word “russia” (“russian” and “moscow”) from a small letter is a new trend due to its state terrorism actions towards Ukraine and Ukrainians, and the author supports it.

Thousands of lives were ruined by the russian invasion of Ukraine in February. Deadly crimes of rushists made millions of people flee the country. Among all the horrible events and circumstances, Web3 founders had to help their employees relocate and keep businesses afloat in such emotional and stressful times. While making tough decisions and saving their and their employees’ lives, some also broke a leg in business development. I talked to ten badass, brave Ukrainian founders about their ways of leading Web3 companies during the war and bear market.

Dyma Budorin, Founder and CEO of Hacken

Dyma Budorin is a cybersecurity expert and crypto economy influencer with 14+ years of managerial expertise in the accounting business (The Big Four) and cybersecurity. He is a certified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). In his professional auditing career, Dyma methodically climbed the ranks of the Big Four to become a Senior Manager at Deloitte. He served as an Audit Counselor in Ukrspetsexport and Deputy CEO for Strategy and Development at Ukrinmash.

In 2017, Dyma decided to channel his immense experience in auditing and business development into Web3, a growing global phenomenon at that time. Dyma establishes Hacken – a cybersecurity auditor with a vision of transforming Web3 into a more ethical industry. As the company’s Founder and CEO, Dyma is responsible for leading the team of 88+ talented specialists and providing a vision of the future. Dyma’s contribution to Web3 is widely recognized. In 2021, he joined the list of the top 50 Ukrainian IT entrepreneurs. Dyma consults the Ukrainian government on the adoption of a virtual economy. He is a regular participant in major Web3 cybersecurity events as an invited speaker.

“Undoubtedly, the most vital real-world change for our company has been russian unjustified and unprovoked aggression against the sovereign nation of Ukraine, our homeland. We helped 70 team members safely evacuate to Western Europe two weeks before the full-scale invasion. We offered $4,000 to workers who left the country and $2,000 to those who relocated within Ukraine and helped find accommodation,” said Dyma. “As experts, we provided aid in cybersecurity to the Ministry of Digital Transformation and National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. In addition, we launched Liberator – Hacken’s app with 100K+ downloads that allows users to lend computing power to distributed denial-of-service attacks against russian propaganda sites.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that “dozens of employees at Ukrainian cybersecurity startup Hacken fled their war-torn country and found refuge about 2,000 miles away in Portugal. Since then, they have managed to keep their business alive and are now supporting cyber operations against russia. The company moved its main office from Kyiv to Lisbon, with stops in between.”

Hacken’s offices are now in Lisbon, Portugal, and Tallinn, Estonia. Dyma says, “Hacken will be very strong after the Ukrainian victory in this war, there is no doubt. Regarding the bear market in crypto, industry leaders recognize that our products are vital regardless of market conditions. What effect does the bear market have on the cybersecurity field?…