Hundreds of millions of dollars would be at risk on the platform. Cybercrime police raided the company’s Istanbul headquarters.
Local prosecutors are investigating Turkey-based bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency exchange Thodex for an alleged crowd scam. The exchange house suspended operations 48 hours ago, and since then, users have stopped being able to carry out transactions with their funds.
Turkish local media said on April 22 that the founder of the startup, Faruk Fatih Özer, left the country for Tirana, the capital of Albania. The executive is now a subject of investigations for allegedly appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars in digital currencies.
The cybercrime police, to continue their investigations, raided Thodex offices in Istanbul. Preliminary estimates indicate that almost 400,000 users would be affected by the stoppage since they cannot withdraw or deposit any crypto funds.
“There was a decrease in assets at Thodex. When many users demanded their money back, the company was unable to satisfy them. It is a liquidity problem, “said Oguz Basibuyuk, a lawyer for the company quoted by Bloomberg.
Another version of the events shows that the company stopped operations due to a new partnership that it would have established with an external investor. The stoppage would be for five days while the supposed new shareholding faces its completion.
Thodex CEO Says Talks about his Return
Simultaneously, when users were formalizing their complaints with the authorities, Fatih Özer issued a public statement. He confirmed that he left the Turkish region to settle some business meetings but would definitely “return”. The CEO also affirmed that the accusations against him are unfounded and that only 30,000 of almost 700,000 users would be presenting problems.
Fatih Özer said: “I declare that I will return to Turkey in a few days. I will return to ensure that the truth comes to public light in a parallel collaboration with the judicial authorities and that I will do everything possible to avoid victimization of users,” he also stressed that he would pay all the funds to the users.
Turkey and the Ban Status for the Use of Bitcoin
The situation with Thodex occurred days after the Central Bank of Turkey banned the use of bitcoin and any other cryptocurrency in the country. The institution released a statement restricting the use of the crypto asset for the payment of products and other services.
Turkish citizens and investors have turned to bitcoin as a safe alternative to the lira’s devaluation, the national currency. According to a survey released in June 2019, The country led the race to adopt BTC. This top rank went on a global scale.
Thodex is a centralized exchange that manages a daily volume of about $ 600 million, according to figures from CoinMarketCap (CMC). The platform consolidates operations with 23 cryptocurrencies, with the DOGE / TRY pair as the most demanded by users.
By: Jenson Nuñez
