The exchange was previously known as BTC-e, but its name was changed to WEX in 2017 due to legal complications.
Dmitry Vasiliev, the former CEO of Russian cryptocurrency exchange Wex, has been arrested in Warsaw, Poland, according to BBC Russia. Wex, formerly known as BTC-e, was a well-known “dark” exchange during the bitcoin industry’s early years. It is reported to have been involved in the laundering of funds for a number of high-profile cryptocurrency hacks, including the infamous Mt. Gox disaster.
While Poland regards Vasiliev as innocent, other nations such as Kazakhstan have an open fraud case against the elusive figure and have apparently participated in conversations over extradition. Vasiliev is believed to have been seized by Polish authorities on August 11, but the news was not revealed until Sept. 17 by the Polish newspaper Wyborcza.
As an employee of BTC-e, Vasiliev allegedly facilitated trades for Chinese investors until the exchange’s shutdown in the summer of 2017. Alexander Vinnik, the accused founder of BTC-e, has been charged with laundering more than $4 billion in Bitcoin over the course of six years. He was later caught in Greece and was the focus of a US inquiry.
A few months after Vinnik’s arrest, Vasiliev was appointed director of the relaunched exchange, Wex, which went on to secure its place among the Top-10 exchanges by the calendar year’s conclusion, with an average daily trading volume of $80 million. However, less than a year later, Binance blacklisted Wex for alleged money laundering tactics – a move that would ultimately end in the exchange’s death.
Vasiliev was arrested by Italian officials in 2019 but was quickly freed after it was discovered that the extradition request had errors. Recently, the Bank of Russia began partnering with local banks to freeze citizens’ payments to crypto exchanges, citing the need to safeguard customers from “emotional” purchases.
Also Read: Binance Making Changes To Improve Collaboration With Regulators
Wallets