Just days after the Turkish central bank announced a ban on cryptocurrency payments, users of a prominent crypto exchange in the country faced a catastrophic loss.
As per a recent report, the users of the Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, Thodex had trouble withdrawing their investments. While the exchange hoards about 400,000 users, investments of about hundreds of millions of dollars were reportedly stuck in the exchange. After these users decided to go the legal way, they discovered that the CEO of the platform was missing.
Turkish Govt Should Take Action ASAP Urges President’s Economic Adviser
The users of the crypto platform, Thodex went on to file a complaint against the exchange for fraud. While a prosecutor from Instanbul went on to carry out an investigation of his own regarding the case, funds worth over hundreds of millions of dollars were still stuck in the exchange, Oguz Evren Kilic, the representative of the Thodex users asserted.
The users were alarmed after the platform decided to pull the plug on its services for five days citing maintenance as a reason.
Amidst this, the founder and chief executive officer, Faruk Fatih Ozer had reportedly absconded from the country. He took off from Istanbul on a commercial flight from Istanbul and is speculated to have gone to Albania.
A photo of the CEO was captured during his departure from Turkey. While the CEO is not answering his phone, the search for him continues.
Urging the Turkish government to take timely action, Cemil Ertem, the senior economic adviser to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, stated,
“Pyramid schemes are being established in this area. Turkey will undoubtedly carry out a regulation that’s in line with its economy but also by following global developments.”
Not long ago, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey announced that any direct or indirect payments in crypto would be considered illegal. This law would be effective starting from 30 April.