BTC-e still down, Russian arrested in Greece

[abercrombie]

BTC-e down for over 24 hours.  One of the owners went by Alexander.

Possibly related, 1h ago:

Greece detains Russian Alexander Vinnik for bitcoin 'fraud'

ATHENS, July 26 (Reuters) - A Russian arrested in Greece on suspicion of running a money laundering operation through a bitcoin platform is 38 year old Alexander Vinnik, police sources said on Wednesday.

Greek police earlier said the suspect, who was picked up on a U.S. warrant, was thought to have used bitcoin to launder 'at least' $4 billion earned through illicit activities.

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[Devilwalk]

Yes I think that's BTC-e.

From Russian wanted in US caught in Greece for money laundering

The man has been accused of laundering an estimated $4 billion since 2011 by using the online bitcoin currency. Greek police said he had been directing a criminal organization that owns, operates and manages “one of the largest cybercrime websites in the world.”

Isn't BTC-e founded in 2011?

[ft73]

No need to search around, info already here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2047600.0

In short: Yes BTC-e is related to this arrest.
Soon the international press will give details.

[Serpens66]

If it is really the btc-e guy and if the authorities get the money/cryptos from btc-e, are they forced to pay it back to btc-e users?

In case of darknet market they never gave back the money to the users, but maybe because the users bought illegal things.
But with btc-e majority of the users are traders and have nothing to do with illegal things, so do they have to give us back the money? And if not, can we sue them?

[abercrombie]

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ReutersBiz/status/890232366370893825


BREAKING: Russian man arrested in Greece connected to BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange

[mobnepal]

I found this article which is in quite detail
http://blog.wizsec.jp/2017/07/breaking-open-mtgox-1.html

We're going to split this into a couple of different posts, as our full findings cover a wider range of topics, and for this post we'll just very quickly summarize the main BTC theft and its connection to Vinnik:

[audaciousbeing]

BTC-e down for over 24 hours.  One of the owners went by Alexander.

Possibly related, 1h ago:

Greece detains Russian Alexander Vinnik for bitcoin 'fraud'

ATHENS, July 26 (Reuters) - A Russian arrested in Greece on suspicion of running a money laundering operation through a bitcoin platform is 38 year old Alexander Vinnik, police sources said on Wednesday.

Greek police earlier said the suspect, who was picked up on a U.S. warrant, was thought to have used bitcoin to launder 'at least' $4 billion earned through illicit activities.

If this arrest is really related to BTC-e heist then I would say its good signal to the entire market that the anonymity is not enough to keep the hands of law from reaching you and also a signal to others who might be thinking in that direction to use this suspending of btc on sites as an opportunity to bolt with lots of fund, the eyes of the law is equally watching you. Coindash did its own, btc-e did its own who knows who is coming next?.

[SmartIphone]

If this arrest is really related to BTC-e heist then I would say its good signal to the entire market that the anonymity is not enough to keep the hands of law from reaching you and also a signal to others who might be thinking in that direction to use this suspending of btc on sites as an opportunity to bolt with lots of fund, the eyes of the law is equally watching you. Coindash did its own, btc-e did its own who knows who is coming next?.

The anonymity online is disappearing day to day and for some reasons it is good and for some other reason it is bad as people want to have privacy but not all of them use for good things.
Btw Bitmixer.io has shut down. You can read more here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2042470
Also I believe that there is something else hidden behind this arrest, making a foggy situation to the public.

[HaXX0R1337]

Greek police earlier said the suspect, who was picked up on a U.S. warrant, was thought to have used bitcoin to launder 'at least' $4 billion earned through illicit activities.

If this is true then $4 billion is hell lot of money to launder and i am sure he will be behind bars for a very long time for his actions,but i would like to know more details about it,how the funds users invested in the site,is it all gone or is there a possibility that the users will get their funds back,over all it is a really unfortunate situation for the users.

[DaMut]

BTC-E down and officially said they're doing a maintenence for their website
their statement :

"Update2: At the moment, work is underway to restore the service. Approximate terms from 5 to 10 days. Thank you for understanding"
https://btc-e.com/

or you can go here :

https://twitter.com/btcecom/status/890281223632764928 (Tweet in russian)

based on recent activity we can see it clearly that Alexander Vinnik more likely connected to BTC-E.
and other than that,they claimed that Alexander involved in hacking MT.Gox

you can see it more in here :
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2047600.msg20405390#msg20405390

Note : Total arrested in Bitcoin Approx : Over $4 Billion BTC

[UnDerDoG81]

Next MtGox?

[Raja_MBZ]

This seems like a funny drama.

Next 7 days are going to be very interesting, filled with news like these.

[Tyrantt]

as much as I've seen, btc-e won't be coming back soon or at all. Now I'm hoping that this will effect the price a little, to make it go down unleast to $2000.

If this arrest is really related to BTC-e heist then I would say its good signal to the entire market that the anonymity is not enough to keep the hands of law from reaching you and also a signal to others who might be thinking in that direction to use this suspending of btc on sites as an opportunity to bolt with lots of fund, the eyes of the law is equally watching you. Coindash did its own, btc-e did its own who knows who is coming next?.

The anonymity online is disappearing day to day and for some reasons it is good and for some other reason it is bad as people want to have privacy but not all of them use for good things.
Btw Bitmixer.io has shut down. You can read more here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2042470
Also I believe that there is something else hidden behind this arrest, making a foggy situation to the public.

wow, their explanation on why's it shutting down is even better.

Next MtGox?

new megaupload?

[hatshepsut93]

This seems like a funny drama.

Next 7 days are going to be very interesting, filled with news like these.

I think the price shouldn't change much, Bitcoin is already to big to be crashed by failures of exchanges and darknet markets. It's steadily going mainstream, so it's no longer relies on shady operations to boost its price. And it looks like governments aren't opposing Bitcoin itself, and actually utilize public ledger to track down criminals, so there's no reason to panic for Bitcoin hodlers. And people who look for privacy should really start looking for alternative cryptocurrencies and other systems. 

[btc78]

I agree that BTC-e won't be back coming back for the time being. I'm suspecting that the unscheduled maintenance was just a cover and maybe the Feds are snipping all the logs from the server since they went offline. And I'm sure this is connected to Bitmixer.io shutting down its mixing services after such a long time. Maybe those money goes to the mixing services to stay anonymous, but it looks like its not the case.

[HarryKPeters]

I read the article, and I feel  happy I didn't trust that site with my bitcoin. Let's hope though the bad persons will be punished and the good person won't.
This is a lot of BTC we are dealing with!

[alyssa85]

If it is really the btc-e guy and if the authorities get the money/cryptos from btc-e, are they forced to pay it back to btc-e users?

I don't think the authorities will be able to get any money from btc-e - they appear to be moving their servers. Also - in the event the Feds actually manage to seize btc-e - people would have to prove they own accounts before being able to access them. What are the chances of that?

[DaMut]

Next MtGox?

actually it's not 'the next MtGox' but the truth it's already a 'Sucessor of the Goxed'.
Currently Btc-e was down and they made a statement need a time for 5-10 days to fix the problem (which is we should know what is the problem)

I agree that BTC-e won't be back coming back for the time being. I'm suspecting that the unscheduled maintenance was just a cover and maybe the Feds are snipping all the logs from the server since they went offline. And I'm sure this is connected to Bitmixer.io shutting down its mixing services after such a long time. Maybe those money goes to the mixing services to stay anonymous, but it looks like its not the case.

Yep 'Btc-e will not be back for the time being',we will wait an everlasting maintenance.
about Bitmixer,we really don't know about it but the timing it's really coincide.
on the other hand they said they closed their services 'voluntary' because global goverment force mixer service to close their door.
but the question is why it's only Bitmixer and after that something this happened

[Martin958]

It looks like most of the BTC is gone from Btc-e if you take into account the 66,000 dump.

I don't know if that includes altcoins or not. Maybe they are still there, or maybe it takes the 5-10 days to raid those wallets too and mix them all, then cover all tracks and leave the country.

It seems more like they will re-open to me since they have been fined $110 million. Why do that to an exchange if they will no longer exist? Seems more likely they would have been liquidated instead, so I see them opening again probably minus lots of BTC. (Hope not alts as well).

I imagine everyone will be forced to send multiple ID forms including passport before they can do any withdrawals though. This would also take 5-10 days to plan.

[Abimayu]

Mt. Gox Dejavu.. Sorry to hear guys if you have money there.

Russia National and Bitcoin Exchange Charged: 21-Count Indictment For Internet Money Laundering Scheme/Laundering Money From Mt. Gox

Code:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/russian-national-and-bitcoin-exchange-charged-21-count-indictment-operating-alleged