For the first time since 2017, a large amount of cryptocurrency stored in a wallet linked to the Wex cryptocurrency, the successor to the infamous trading platform run by alleged money launderer Aleksandr Vinnik, has moved. The 10,000 bitcoins in question, worth more than $165 million, were transferred to new addresses in several transactions.
Bitcoin Stored in Uninterruptible Wex Wallet Moves for First Time in Five Years
An unknown owner of a bitcoin wallet linked to the now-defunct Wex, once the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the Russian-speaking market, has withdrawn 10,000 coins. Funds to this BTC address were last transferred in September 2017 when the same amount was sent.
Wex was founded in the same year after the bankruptcy of BTC-e and was closed after one of its operators, Alexander Vinnik, was arrested in Greece. The Russian IT specialist, who is currently in prison in the United States, is accused of laundering up to 9 billion dollars through the stock exchange.
The transfer of digital money was observed for the first time by Sergey Mendeleyev, the founder of the Garantex cryptocurrency exchange and the CEO of the defi banking platform Indefibank. According to a report by Russia’s leading cryptocurrency news outlet Bits.media, he announced the discovery on his Telegram channel. The coins were transferred on Wednesday, November 23.
Several transactions were made, including two possible test transfers of small amounts, before the 10,000 BTC was sent. 3,500 BTC was transferred to one address and 6,500 BTC went to another address, presumably the change address. The value of the cryptocurrency mined exceeds $165 million in fiat equivalent at the time of writing.
When Wex went offline in 2018, about $450 million was lost. The platform is considered the successor to BTC-e, which allegedly laundered money from the Mt Gox hack and other cybercrimes. It was operated by World Exchange Services, a Singapore-based company co-founded by Alexey Bilyuchenko, a former partner of BTC-e administrator Alexander Vinnik.
Vinnik was detained in the summer of 2017 while on vacation in Thessaloniki. In addition to the United States, France and Russia also demanded his extradition. In December 2019, Greek authorities extradited him to France, where he served a five-year prison sentence for money laundering. Vinnik was later returned to Greece, which promptly extradited him to the United States, where he now faces multiple charges.
In March of this year, Russian law enforcement agencies detained a crypto entrepreneur associated with an unknown cryptocurrency exchange and suspected of embezzling money and property. At that time, Sergei Mendeleev claimed that the arrested person was none other than Bilyuchenko. His ownership of Wex was exposed in a BBC report.
Another co-owner and former CEO of Wex, Dmitry Vasiliev, was arrested in Poland in August 2021 and later released by Polish authorities before returning to Russia. In June 2022, he was detained at Zagreb airport while entering Croatia on a red warrant issued by Interpol at the request of Kazakhstan, where he is wanted on fraud charges.
Last November, Mendeleev announced that the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs had not acted on a request by Wex users to help block and confiscate cryptocurrencies withdrawn from wallets managed by the exchange. At that time, more than 10,000 ETH worth about $46 million were mined and transferred to other platforms.
Who do you think removed the cryptocurrency from the wallet associated with Wex and BTC-e? Share your thoughts about the job in the comment section below.
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