There are many scams going on in the cryptocurrency industry, especially BTC. If an investor is not careful, he can fall prey to cybercriminals posing as legitimate projects or platforms. At times, some exchanges may encounter obstacles, causing huge losses to investors. This is the case with WEX, BTC-e, and other exchanges that cause people to lose money.
Vinnik, a Russian national known as the BTC-e operator, was one of the first Bitcoin exchanges. The exchange was linked to the hack of Mt. Gox, the first Bitcoin exchange to be attacked with 744,408 BTC.
However, the stolen funds could not be recovered and the exchange closed in 2014. For his part, Vinnik has never been accepted to run BTC-e, but said he was on the exchange.
However, in 2017, US authorities shut down the BTC exchange and seized its servers. Vinnick was arrested while living with his family on a beach in Greece. Since his arrest, he has been in a tug-of-war between the United States, Russia and France. They are vying to extradite Vinnick, each with different charges against him.
a report from CNN The extradition of cryptocurrency exchange operator Alexander Vinnik from Greece to the United States was disclosed. The cryptocurrency exchange operator has been detained in France, but his French lawyer, Frederic Belot, has disclosed his extradition.
After several attempts to extradite Vinnick, U.S. authorities rescinded their request a few weeks ago. With the cancellation of the request, Vinnik could be transferred to Greece and then to the United States.
In 2020, a California court indicted Vinnik on multiple criminal charges. These include ransomware scams, computer intrusions and hacking, drug distribution rings, identity theft schemes and corrupt public officials.
France Sentences Vinnik to 5 Years in Prison for BTC Fraud
France later successfully acquired Vinnik in 2020, and a French court sentenced him to five years in prison. Vinnick was charged with money laundering. But other charges, such as conspiracy, blackmail and distorting automatic data processing systems, were dropped. In addition, the Paris Court of Appeal upheld the prison terms.
Vinnick’s attorney, Bellot, did not explain the legal mechanism that U.S. authorities use in extradition requests. However, he mentioned that if the U.S. withdraws its request, this will reactivate Greece’s request.
WEX, the descendant of the cryptocurrency exchange, launched a few months after BTC-e shut down. The trading pairs and website design of WEX are very similar to BTC-e. It has gained access to the BTC-e user base. Additionally, it promised to gradually refund all losses to BTC exchange users before the platform shuts down.
In the summer of 2019, WEX ceased operations. Users are complaining about withdrawal problems. Also, they noticed that the price of BTC is higher than that of other exchanges.
In addition, WEX CEO Dmitri Vasiliev has been arrested several times in different countries. These include Croatia, Italy and Poland.
Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView.com
