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Crypto Exchange Goes Dark: Near 400,000 Users Fear Possible $2B Fraud
Users of a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange have been left unable to access their accounts or withdraw money after the platform abruptly stopped working.
Business
Nearly 400,000 users of a Turkish cryptocurrency exchange, Thodex, have been left unable to access their accounts or withdraw money from the platform after it abruptly ceased operations Wednesday, Bloomberg reports.
According to numerous local news outlets, Thodex's CEO Faruk Fatih Özer fled to Thailand from Istanbul Airport on Tuesday afternoon with $2 billion worth of digital assets, further fueling the speculations on the fraud allegations.
The announcement
First, the platform, which has been operating since 2017, announced a six-hour maintenance period after transaction problems were reported. Then, on Thursday, Thodex made an announcement that it will be closed "for about five working days" due to a sale process.
"World-renowned banks and funds, whose names we are going to announce when the agreement process is completed, have been wanting to invest in our company and proposed a partnership for a long time," it wrote. "For this process to be completed, transactions need to be halted and the sale process needs to be completed."