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Wex cryptocurrency exchange, successor to the infamous BTC-e, has a new owner. Dmitry Havchenko, a former Ukrainian businessman who became a separatist fighter, said he had bought the coin exchange platform through a family member. Now he wants to restore it and even track down the lost "Vinnik's treasure".
Read also: The operator of BTC-e Alexander Vinnik takes part in the hunger strike, says the lawyer
Wex Sold to former pro-Russian fighter in Ukraine
The Wex operator, World Exchange Services, based in Singapore, was officially acquired by Havchenko's daughter, Darya, 29, reported by the BBC's Russian service. The local authorities did not allow his father to register the company under his name, probably due to his participation in the armed conflict in the Donbass region.
Wex has been practically out of service for months, with very limited activity ratios and only a few coins available for trading and withdrawal. Many users have already informed the Russian police that they can not withdraw their funds from the platform. Wex recently lost the .nz domain and after changing his web address several times is currently hosted on another domain, wex1.in.
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The exchange inherited BTC-e, once the largest cryptocurrency trading platform in the Russian-speaking world, which was re-launched under the Wex name in mid-September 2017. Towards the end of last year, its daily volume reached $ 80 million and was among the top 20 digital asset trading platforms in the world, according to Coinmarketcap data, listed by RBC.
World Exchange Services, registered by one of BTC-e's largest customers, the Belarussian native Dmitry Vasiliev, has maintained the interface and user accounts of BTC-e, even if it denied any connection with the previous operator, the company of Canton Business of the Seychelles. According to some reports, one of the alleged founders of BTC-e, simply known by his nickname "admin", has also been involved in rebranding. In the summer of this year, Havchenko made his first attempt to acquire Wex but the deal failed.
According to the US authorities, BTC-e has been used to recycle billions of dollars, including stolen cryptocurrency in Mount Gox. His suspected co-owner Alexander Vinnik was arrested in Greece last summer and is awaiting the outcome of his extradition process. He is wanted for numerous crimes in the United States, France and his native Russia, but he has always maintained his innocence, claiming he was only consulting BTC-e. Recently, Vinnik went on a hunger strike to protest his treatment by the Greek judiciary.
Tracing of & # 39; Vinnik & # 39; s Treasure & # 39;
Dmitry Havchenko, also known by his war call sign "Moryachok", now wants to restore Wex and establish its headquarters in the Crimea, the autonomous republic that has separated from Ukraine and joined the Russian Federation. He told the BBC that he intends to use the platform to provide financial support to other unrecognized pro-Russian entities in the post-Soviet space, including the two self-proclaimed republics in Eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Lugansk, Transnistria in Moldova and Abkhazia and Ossetia of the South in Georgia. "Our goal is to fight the domination of the dollar," said Havchenko.
The new owner has also promised to restore funds lost by Wex users. "The main task now is to return the missing cryptographic resources, a whole team of lawyers and collectors will work to achieve this goal," he told the BBC. Havchenko suggested that he could also ask for help from Russian forces. However, he refused to allow time for the exchange to reopen.
Another goal set by the entrepreneur is to track down the digital funds that disappeared after BTC-e went offline, the so-called "Vinnik's treasure". He referred to the money accumulated by the exchange commissions collected from the platform and from user funds that were not withdrawn after his death. The BBC is citing several estimates of the total amount ranging from $ 150 to $ 500 million.
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According to the report, BTC-e worked with at least 15 entities registered in different offshore jurisdictions, from Cyprus to Belize, and using a number of bank accounts worldwide, including one with Mongolia's National Investment Bank. Many sought Vinnik's treasure, including the United States government. In 2017, the Treasury Department's Financial Crime Application Network decided to fine the $ 110 million exchange and Vinnik a further $ 12 million for various violations of US anti-money laundering laws.
What are your expectations for the future of Wex cryptocurrency exchange? Share your thoughts on the topic in the comments section below.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Smartmockups, YouTube.
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