Thodex: the exchange closes and the CEO flees abroad. 2 billion dollars disappeared in Turkey
Nearly 400,000 users of a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange cannot log into their account and withdraw their funds. The platform's website has been down for several days, while several sources suggest that its CEO has already fled the country with about $ 2 billion in virtual currencies in his pocket. Take the Money and Run.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that Thodex, a Turkish-based exchange, has ceased operations, due to an "unspecified change in partnership." The trading platform founded in 2017 has released a statement explaining that all services will be closed for approximately five business days. However, the message reassured customers that they didn't need to worry about their funds.
Around the same time, however, users started complaining about their inability to access their crypto. Worrying messages started coming out on twitter:
A local #Crypto exchange where I'd ~ 20% of my entire trading capital got rug pulled
-20 days no withdrawal (fiat & crypto)
-Then the website went offline
-Then the CEO run abroadI'm not broke, but it hurts… Alot
It sucks, Even when u deal with regulated exchanges #Thodex
– Feras_Crypto (will Never DM you First) (@ FeraSY1) April 21, 2021
The CEO, Faruk Fatih Ozer, seems to have disappeared as early as April 20 and is probably in Tirana, Albania , even if previously there was talk of Thailand. However, the site is closed and the funds have disappeared. Authorities are investigating.
However, the whole story is dark. On March 15th Thodex started a promotion to attract new customers, with great success. On April 16, the Turkish monetary authorities banned the possibility of exchanging crypto and fiat in the country, and this obviously limited the operation of the exchange. At this point, the disappearance of the CEO who, in any case, has already turned to a prestigious law firm to protect his interests.
The hope for the 400,000 Turkish investors is that Ozer actually went abroad to transfer the operations of his company, but for now there is uncertainty and, above all, the fear of losing the money invested.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles of Economic Scenarios.
The Thodex article : the exchange closes and the CEO flees abroad. 2 billion dollars disappeared in Turkey comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/thodex-lexchange-chiude-ed-il-ceo-fugge-allestero-2-miliardi-di-dollari-spariti-in-turchia/ on Fri, 23 Apr 2021 06:09:31 +0000.