BTC-e.com down ! Police detains the owner .

[CoinHoarder]

Anyone know why he was in Greece?

He probably would've been golden if he had stayed in Russia..

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[dunfida]

BTC-E posted update 5 on the Russian local thread.

1. They have managed to gain control over 55% of the funds, rest of the 45% of funds were seized, mostly fiat.

2. Everyone will get 55% of their funds.

4. Rest of the 45% would be paid in BTE tokens (ICO).

3. Funds in fiat would be paid in BTE tokens which could be exchanged later.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2075551.0

Is this an another alibi from them? I'm quiet tired on all the promises happening on here. I do really doubt if they did really just got the 55% or just 100% thing ad what the hell about BTE tokens? What a shitty move on paying up BTE tokens which we don't really need at all. If our coins are on BTC then they should give it back on btc form why do decide to give in bte? Senseless thing.

[Prem.Soorajpaul]

Anyone know why he was in Greece?

He probably would've been golden if he had stayed in Russia..

It was not safe for him to stay in Russia, as he was being investigated by the FSB. That's why he went to Ukraine first, and then to Bulgaria. I don't know why he decided to visit Greece. That was a big mistake from his part.

[volyova]

BTC-E posted update 5 on the Russian local thread.

1. They have managed to gain control over 55% of the funds, rest of the 45% of funds were seized, mostly fiat.

2. Everyone will get 55% of their funds.

4. Rest of the 45% would be paid in BTE tokens (ICO).

3. Funds in fiat would be paid in BTE tokens which could be exchanged later.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2075551.0

Wow! Is this real?

If they keep their word, then this is going to be wonderful news. So effectively, the users don't lose anything. They will get a 55% refund immediately, and the remaining 45% will be paid later.

Sure it's real! It happens every day in real life - a brand's main chief is arrested with the brand controlled by the feds, forcing the brand's unknown subordinates residing in Eastern Europe to return all the pseudo-anonymous cryptos still on account, thus allowing the anonymous dudes to garner cred. What part of all that don't you understand?

Just give them a chance. I know, I know every other exchange that has gone down has seen money stolen, but just because that happened every time in the past, it doesn't mean that the situation with BTC-e can't be different. My own personal experience is that they never did anything dodgy or untrustworthy to me while I had an account there, so why would they start now? It's just a group of people after all. I think you are jaded and have a totally blinkered viewpoint. Also, you are going to be wrong. I think you are THE most cynical person in the world, Gleb. Open your heart, sarcasm isn't the only way.

[Gleb Gamow]

BTC-E posted update 5 on the Russian local thread.

1. They have managed to gain control over 55% of the funds, rest of the 45% of funds were seized, mostly fiat.

2. Everyone will get 55% of their funds.

4. Rest of the 45% would be paid in BTE tokens (ICO).

3. Funds in fiat would be paid in BTE tokens which could be exchanged later.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2075551.0

Wow! Is this real?

If they keep their word, then this is going to be wonderful news. So effectively, the users don't lose anything. They will get a 55% refund immediately, and the remaining 45% will be paid later.

Sure it's real! It happens every day in real life - a brand's main chief is arrested with the brand controlled by the feds, forcing the brand's unknown subordinates residing in Eastern Europe to return all the pseudo-anonymous cryptos still on account, thus allowing the anonymous dudes to garner cred. What part of all that don't you understand?

Just give them a chance. I know, I know every other exchange that has gone down has seen money stolen, but just because that happened every time in the past, it doesn't mean that the situation with BTC-e can't be different. My own personal experience is that they never did anything dodgy or untrustworthy to me while I had an account there, so why would they start now? It's just a group of people after all. I think you are jaded and have a totally blinkered viewpoint. Also, you are going to be wrong. I think you are THE most cynical person in the world, Gleb. Open your heart, sarcasm isn't the only way.

Dude, I just used every ounce of energy to open my brain, thus nothing left to open my heart.

Now that my brain is open, I concur that although every other exchange that has gone down has seen money stolen, this time it's gonna be different because you had a positive experience.

Seriously, did you write that yourself or had help from the other retards (group of people) in your ward? Please reply before being administered your medication for the day.

this is tragic, doesn't anybody remember BFL...

I take it you read ALL my cynical posts re BFL, eh?

[Lizzie_Girl]

I was expecting this after FBI busted Alphabay and than Hansamarkt.

obviously russian+international mobs was those who operate and controlle Alphabay and BTC E too.

It is a dot and answer to federals.

The owner of BTC E live is in danger.
As mobs killed Alexander Caze in Thai prison mobs can kill the owner in greece prison. So they can not to investigate further.

Every action has it consequences.

FBI took Alphabay down,mobs took exchange money as they do not have profit from Alpha now.
Circle closed.
Federals dont fucking understand and ruin balance with their dirty hands in ecosystem.
And now we pay for their shit too.

P.S. I still remember the "succsesfull" FBI/DEA operation when they confiscated 20 000 tons of sasafrol oil in africa. Precursor to "exstasy"
After such "success" europe was full with deadly Pmma(dangerous analog of ecstasy) for 5 years with hundreds of death and injuries.


For me was absolutely ok if 40 000 people(total Alphabay active members) from 7 500 000 000 humans in world choose to take drugs. They was absolutely free to make with their body and mind what they want. They are free to chose.

I am not for drugs,I am for freedom  and responsibility of individuals.

DEA old school veterans must retire soon.

Well done ! I totally agree.. if you want to ruin your body it should be your choice. This whole war on drugs fails and actually historically the drug problem has for worse because if it. If more freedom was allowed there would be less black markets around and no need for criminal acricisinxe it's legal. People seem to think making drive legal will make the world a crazy place but no it's the other way around. People will take drugs no matter what rules or punishments put in place. Plus who the hell hers to tell you what to do with your own body ?

[bitjoin]

So according the most recent update they are offering BFX style tokens and also doing an ICO from them.  This could clear the debt instantly if they did a good job on it based on past large ICOs numbers.

[Skieleton]

There will be more people as Vinnik.. Where opportunity there opportunities. Surely there will be next ...

[Slow death]

Plus who the hell hers to tell you what to do with your own body ?

When you hurt yourself, you lose the right to your own body, the government decides your life, who gave this permission to the government to decide your life when you are unfit, is yourself (the society)

The society created rules so as to live peacefully, politicians seized this power and use for their own benefit by passing laws that benefits them and disapproving law that does not benefit them, an example of this is the case of the drug that I will not comment here

About btc-e. Why did they take time to take a stand?

I still think the authorities are behind this sudden btc-e decision.

There will be more people as Vinnik.. Where opportunity there opportunities. Surely there will be next ...

There are many people  like Vinnik.

[marky89]

The whole splitting up the coin funds into 7 coins confusing. I only had BTC sitting on there, so why can't I just get back 55% of that BTC? Why does it need to be split up into all of the coins? I don't have wallets for 7 coins. I have a feeling due to all the price differences that have happened since then, I won't be seeing anywhere near 55% value back.

My reading of the update was that crypto holders will receive their coins back with a 45% haircut. It's fiat holders that will have their 55% distributed as different coins. So, BTC holders definitely seem to be in a better situation, if this scheme truly happens.

Anyone know why he was in Greece?

He probably would've been golden if he had stayed in Russia..

He may have been in Greece because he wasn't an owner or admin of the exchange, and wasn't expecting any of this. All we know from the indictment is that he had access to hundreds of thousands of BTC back in 2012 (when they were worth very little) stolen from Gox. It's very possible that BTC-e didn't do their due diligence back then when he approached them as a liquidity provider. That would explain why he might have deposited directly into internal cold storage addresses.

[exstasie]

So according the most recent update they are offering BFX style tokens and also doing an ICO from them.  This could clear the debt instantly if they did a good job on it based on past large ICOs numbers.

When I saw the news this morning, I immediately thought FBI HONEYPOT. 55% would be a perfect number too: enough to be make it both believable (lots of fiat money would have been seized), and enough to entice users to come back to claim funds. The kicker is that they are asking for KYC. So naturally, it looks like a honeypot to me.

But then, I read about the debt tokenization (and saw "ICO" in the update). That screams "anything but the feds" to me. Now I'm wondering if the KYC is just to deter the more nefarious users (darknet/money laundering/etc) from claiming funds.

So, what are the odds that this is a honeypot?

[Gleb Gamow]

So according the most recent update they are offering BFX style tokens and also doing an ICO from them.  This could clear the debt instantly if they did a good job on it based on past large ICOs numbers.

When I saw the news this morning, I immediately thought FBI HONEYPOT. 55% would be a perfect number too: enough to be make it both believable (lots of fiat money would have been seized), and enough to entice users to come back to claim funds. The kicker is that they are asking for KYC. So naturally, it looks like a honeypot to me.

But then, I read about the debt tokenization (and saw "ICO" in the update). That screams "anything but the feds" to me. Now I'm wondering if the KYC is just to deter the more nefarious users (darknet/money laundering/etc) from claiming funds.

So, what are the odds that this is a honeypot?

Please, allow me to go one better. <you're gonna love this!> Since the dudes supposedly still in control of BTC-e are anonymous, viz. WE DON'T KNOW WHO THE FUCK THEY ARE, exactly how does one verify that the entities behind this new ICO thingy are made up of even one of the former BTC-e principals/subordinates?

We've already witnessed how entities were quickly created to replace the now defunct Bitmixer thanks to its CEO receiving sound advice from his preacher  , thus it's not too much of a Brian Stretch to assume that some nefarious Russki or other nationality dude positioned him- or herself to represent the FBI-controlled BTC-e with the full intent of creating an ICO thingy so to make bank off those already harmed.

Think about it.

[squatter]

Please, allow me to go one better. <you're gonna love this!> Since the dudes supposedly still in control of BTC-e are anonymous, viz. WE DON'T KNOW WHO THE FUCK THEY ARE, exactly how does one verify that the entities behind this new ICO thingy are made up of even one of the former BTC-e principals/subordinates?

There's no way to definitively know. There are some things they can do to demonstrate they are, in fact, the same people, but proof is elusive. For example, they have known BTC and ETH addresses. They could sign messages from such addresses, indicating whether a relaunched domain were legit or not.

That wouldn't solve the honeypot question (if Vinnik really was an owner and gave the FBI the keys, for instance). But it would make it unlikely that some random scammers were running the ICO, particularly if it coincided with the relaunch of a re-branded site that made partial repayments.

[RedditMaster]

BTC-e just released update 5 and it turns out they will be giving everyone their money back!!! In the end of August.

[tleilaxu_eyes]

Regardless of how this turns out, could future seizures of crypto wallets drastically impact the value of a coin? Say an exchange holds 50-60% of the entire supply of DASH, or XMR, or whatever. If that was seized and detained as evidence, wouldn't that effectively double the value of the remaining coins?

[MglIcVhy]

I'm having trouble comprehending the Google translation of BTC-e's announcements.  What it sounds like they're saying is that the U.S. confiscated the dollars outright, and therefore BTC-e will "socialize" the loss by redistributing my alt-coins to people whose dollars were stolen...  Please tell me I'm misunderstanding this!

And if I am mistaken, then should I just wait until BTC-e eventually resurfaces (hopefully), at which point I will be free to access and transfer my alt-coins if I so choose?  (Or am I really not getting the point, and my alt-coins are truly gone forever?)

[marky89]

I'm having trouble comprehending the Google translation of BTC-e's announcements.  What it sounds like they're saying is that the U.S. confiscated the dollars outright, and therefore BTC-e will "socialize" the loss by redistributing my alt-coins to people whose dollars were stolen...  Please tell me I'm misunderstanding this!

And if I am mistaken, then should I just wait until BTC-e eventually resurfaces (hopefully), at which point I will be free to access and transfer my alt-coins if I so choose?  (Or am I really not getting the point, and my alt-coins are truly gone forever?)

They didn't say the U.S. government confiscated the dollars outright. Okpay announced on its blog that Mayzus Financial (its parent company) froze accounts that it believed were connected to BTC-e (and forwarded account information to law enforcement). BTC-e confirmed this in one of their updates. Yes, the losses are being socialized. But coin holders are in a better position than fiat holders, from the looks of it.

"Free access" seems contingent upon identity verification...

[aesma]

So according the most recent update they are offering BFX style tokens and also doing an ICO from them.  This could clear the debt instantly if they did a good job on it based on past large ICOs numbers.

Who would put money in BTC-E2 ? These people must be crazy surely.

[MglIcVhy]

Yes, the losses are being socialized. But coin holders are in a better position than fiat holders, from the looks of it.

Could you explain a bit more about that part?  Do you mean that only the fiat is being redistributed, and 'coin holders will still keep their original 'coin balances?

"Free access" seems contingent upon identity verification...

Yes, and that's the other concern I had.  Do you think it will apply only to the fiat-holding accounts?  (My concern is that governments are pressing for "registration" in order to know who's got which 'coins, even if those were merely moved onto BTC-e for trading, and never even interacted with fiat.  In other words, has the government effectively taken my 'coins hostage?)

[Maheshkumar_Hrangkhawl]

So according the most recent update they are offering BFX style tokens and also doing an ICO from them.  This could clear the debt instantly if they did a good job on it based on past large ICOs numbers.

Who would put money in BTC-E2 ? These people must be crazy surely.

BTC-e operated without any issue for more than 6 years, until the FBI seized their servers. They never cheated their users, and never asked for any ID verification. So I still trust them more than any other exchange.