FX.co ★ Turkey’s largest crypto exchanges shut down stealing customers’ money

The Turkish authorities are putting pressure on the local crypto market. The country is planning to ban digital currency circulation. As a result, Turkish crypto exchanges are closing one after another, leaving their clients without money.

In April, Thodex, a crypto firm based in Turkey, was closed. A daily turnover of the second most popular crypto exchange in the country totaled $770 million. After the shutdown, almost 400,000 investors lost money. They were simply unable to withdraw their funds. Thodex Chief Executive Officer Faruk Fatih Ozer ran to Albania. Turkish police have issued arrest warrants for 78 people working in the company. At the same time, the company’s management is accused of stealing client money in the amount of $2 billion.

Vebitcoin, the country’s fourth-largest cryptocurrency company in terms of turnover, announced it had ceased operations, citing financial strains. A bit later, Vebitcoin CEO İlker Baş and three top managers were arrested. Officials also launched an investigation and blocked the accounts of the platform. The company’s representatives apologized to the clients, saying that it was in a very difficult financial situation and they had to stop working to meet the requirements of the government agencies.

Notably, not so long ago, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) said that cryptocurrencies and other such digital assets based on distributed ledger technology could not be used, directly or indirectly, to pay for goods and services.