Fredrik Haga (@hagaeth) is the co-founder and CEO of the crypto startup Dune Analytics, forced to leave his country. In a local publishing, Haga appears on Norway’s Socialist Party’s “Wall of Shame” after being overwhelmed by unrealized gain taxes.
The local publishing is Borsen, a financial arm of the Dagbladet, featuring the inside of Kirsti Bergstø’s office. Essentially, the Norwegian politician, leader of the Socialist Left Party, says her “Wall of Shame” gives her strength to work.
On the wall, Bergstø places newspaper and magazine articles featuring rich Norwegian quotes and stories, including Haga’s. In particular, the crypto startup founder shared Alex Svanevik’s post this Saturday morning, November 16, telling his story.
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Who is Fredrik Haga, the crypto startup founder who left Norway
Frederik Haga founded Dune in Norway in 2018, building for two years “without any money/funding,” according to his post. After a few months of working, “even without a salary,” things finally appeared to be heading in the right direction.
In 2020, Dune rose $2 million with a Seed round, according to data Finbold retrieved from CryptoRank. Two other funding rounds followed, raising $8 million and $69.42 million in Series A and B stages, respectively. With that, the crypto startup became Norway’s first unicorn, in Haga’s words.
Norway’s government, however, celebrated the accomplishment by charging the founder an unrealized capital gains wealth tax bill of “many times” his annual net salary, looking at the money Dune raised. “Of course, the company is loss-making,” he explained, “and all the investors have preference shares, so I can’t take out any money.”
Calling this out publicly was what gave Frederik Haga a place on the Socialist Party’s “Wall of Shame.”
“Independent of level, taxation needs to happen when you actually make money. I moved to Switzerland because no politician cares/listens,” Frederik Haga concluded. “I still don’t get any tangible and sensible answers to my criticism of unrealized gains tax, BUT I do get put up on the “wall of shame” at the socialist parties offices…”
The Norwegian John Galt effect
Notably, Frederik Haga was one of the more than 30 richest Norwegians to flee the country from 2021 to 2022. The Financial Times reported Norway’s wealth exodus as business leaders voiced concerns about the country’s tax policy.
These stories are what Kirsti Bergstø considers funny and worth including on her “Wall of Shame.” Interestingly, what has been happening in Norway has remarkable similarities to Ayn Rand’s best-seller Atlas Shrugged (1957).
In her novel, American business leaders, led by a man called John Galt, start to disappear during a Socialist regime. These wealthy leaders fled from an extractive and hostile society, creating undesired consequences for Rand’s dystopic United States.
Now, the dystopia crosses the lines of reality in countries like Norway, generating a John Galt effect. As the ruling politicians refuse to acknowledge the reasons why wealth is migrating elsewhere, laughing about it and trying to shame these people instead, things will hardly change.
Meanwhile, the world watches and welcomes people like Frederik Haga and other startup founders or crypto executives who innovate and create opportunities through their work.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
