Bitcoin exchange btce
The indictment further alleges that proceeds from well-known hacks and thefts from bitcoin exchanges were funded through a BTC-e administrator account associated with Vinnik. Vinnik was arrested in Greece on July The indictment alleges that although Bitcoin has known legitimate uses, the virtual currency, like cash, can be used to facilitate illicit transactions and to launder criminal proceeds.
According to the indictment, since its inception, Vinnik and others developed a customer base for BTC-e that was heavily reliant on criminals, including by not requiring users to validate their identity, obscuring and anonymizing transactions and source of funds, and by lacking any anti-money laundering processes.
The indictment alleges BTC-e was operated to facilitate transactions for cybercriminals worldwide and received the criminal proceeds of numerous computer intrusions and hacking incidents, ransomware scams, identity theft schemes, corrupt public officials, and narcotics distribution rings. Thus, the indictment alleges, BTC-e was used to facilitate crimes ranging from computer hacking, to fraud, identity theft, tax refund fraud schemes, public corruption, and drug trafficking.
Gox — an earlier digital currency exchange that eventually failed, in part due to losses attributable to hacking. The indictment alleges that Vinnik obtained funds from the hack of Mt.
Gox and laundered those funds through various online exchanges, including his own BTC-e and a now defunct digital currency exchange, Tradehill, based in San Francisco, California. The indictment alleges that by moving funds through BTC-e, Vinnik sought to conceal and disguise his connection with the proceeds from the hacking of Mt.
Gox and the resulting investigation. As for defendant BTC-e, the indictment alleges that, despite doing substantial business in the United States, BTC-e was not registered as a money services business with the U. The exchange allegedly maintains a base of operations in the Seychelles Islands and its web domains are registered to shell companies in, among other places, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands, France, and New Zealand. The indictment charges BTC-e and Vinnik with one count of operation of an unlicensed money service business, in violation of 18 U.
In addition, the indictment charges Vinnik with seventeen counts of money laundering, in violation of 18 U. An indictment merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Alexander Buyanov and Andrii Shvets. The US Justice Dept attempted to close down BTC-e on the 26th of July when they charged Alexander Vinnik and BTC-e in a count indictment for operating an alleged international money laundering scheme and allegedly laundering funds from the hack of Mt.
By October , they supported many different currency pairs, including Litecoin to dollars, Bitcoin to rubles and RuCoin to rubles. The BTC-e website is offline since 25 July , following the arrest of BTC-e staff members and the seizure of server equipment at one of their data centres. These events led to the suspension of the BTC-e service. BTC-e posted on 31 July that Alexander Vinnik was never the operator or employee of BTC-e and that they would be back working within a month or would put facilities in place to return funds and coins to users.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. History [ edit ]. The Daily Star Newspaper - Lebanon. History Economics Legal status.