​Bitzlato crypto exchange starts returning funds to clients

What’s new? In the Telegram channel of the previously closed crypto exchange Bitzlato, there was an announcement about the beginning of refunds to the affected depositors. According to the service’s representatives on March 1, after 42 days of absence, a solution to the problem was found and the first payments have already started to take place. The team also thanked users for their kind words when Bitzlato turned out to be “a bargaining chip in backroom games.” Earlier, Bitzlato co-founder Anton Shkurenko said that as part of an investigation against the service on suspicion of money laundering, law enforcement officers seized a wallet that held some client funds in various crypto assets.

Link to the announcement

What else is known? Representatives of Bitzlato said that they became “the first platform in the world to take a stand against vile games by keeping the idea of freedom and giving users their money back.” The team noted that it has coped with the challenges and developed a clear action plan to ensure that all data remained safe and coins were in users’ wallets.

Bitzlato situation. On January 17, the US authorities arrested Bitzlato co-founder Anatoly Legkodymov on charges of laundering $700 million. As part of the Bitzlato case, several other people were arrested in Europe, including co-founder of crypto exchange EXMO Pavel Lerner. According to Europol, users exchanged more than $1 billion in assets related to criminal activity through the service.

On January 18, Bitzlato reported the theft of some client assets as a result of a hacker attack. The service was suspended for the duration of the proceedings. On January 31, Anton Shkurenko announced the restart of Bitzlato and the return of funds to victims. On February 7, the media wrote that Shkurenko was detained in Moscow at Interpol’s request, but he later said that he was stopped for a document check and released after a conversation.

In addition, crypto exchange Binance blocked accounts associated with the exchanger. The restrictions affected users from Eastern Europe and the CIS.

Read more about Legkodymov’s arrest and how Bitzlato attracted the attention of the US authorities in GetBlock Magazine’s special feature.