Russia fails to respond to request for help freeze millions of cryptos removed from Wex wallet – Reuters

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The Russian Interior Ministry has rejected a request by Wex clients to do their part in blocking crypto funds withdrawn from a wallet controlled by the now defunct crypto exchange. More than 10,000 ETH were recently removed from the wallet and transferred to other platforms.

Wex victims try to freeze $ 46 million in cryptocurrency lost to bankrupt Russian exchange

The Investigations Department of Russia’s Interior Ministry (MVD) refused to act on a request by victims of the Wex crypto exchange to take action to seize digital assets worth $ 45, $ 9 million withdrawn from one of his wallets in September. The details were shared on social media by Infibank CEO Sergey Mendeleev, who cited an official document from the department.

Former Wex users provided the MVD with a detailed diagram of how funds moved from the wallet to other crypto platforms, Forklog reported. They also submitted data from a scan tool to prove that the coins had been stolen and informed authorities that they had contacted Binance where part of the amount, 97.8 ETH, was sent. The crypto exchange froze these assets for a period of seven working days.

Source: Crystal Blockchain

Binance’s current procedures allow the company’s security department to temporarily freeze funds after receiving convincing evidence of theft. Then the party that requested the measure should contact law enforcement authorities and send a police report back to the crypto trading platform. Binance would then cooperate with investigators to resolve the matter.

Wex clients have referred to the Russian Interior Ministry to request the seizure of the stolen funds. However, according to an official response from the department on Oct. 25, the circumstances exposed by the victims require further investigation before authorities can take action. The MVD considers that a decision to confiscate the assets during the preliminary investigation and on the basis of the available information would be premature.

The Wex crypto exchange is the successor to the infamous BTC-e, once Russia’s largest crypto trading platform, which went offline four years ago. In September this year, information emerged that former Wex general manager Dmitry Vasiliev had been arrested in Warsaw. They were then confirmed by the Polish authorities who also announced that they were examining an extradition request submitted by Kazakhstan where he is accused of fraud.

Wex was launched in the fall of 2017 and reportedly reached a daily turnover of $ 80 million before suddenly halting withdrawals in the summer of 2018 and going bankrupt. According to the estimates of a user group cited by Forklog, the total losses exceed $ 400 million and Vasiliev is suspected of embezzling $ 200 million.

The crypto media reported that 100 ETH had been removed from a Wex wallet in mid-September. This is the first movement of these funds in the past three years, notes the publication. The remaining balance in the wallet, 9,916 ETH worth $ 30 million at the time, was also transferred to a new address a few days later.

Do you think Wex clients will convince Russian authorities to take action to freeze and seize funds withdrawn from the stock exchange wallet? Tell us in the comments section below.

Tags in this bankrupt story, Bitcoin, BTC-e, Customers, Coins, Crypto, Crypto exchange, Crypto funds, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Cryptocurrency exchange, Customers, Dmitry Vasiliev, Ethereum, Exchange, Fund , interior ministry, MVD, platform, Russia, Russian, seizure, traders, Vasiliev, victims, wallet, Wex

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