After FBI Takedown: BTC-e Exchange Says They Still Possess Databases and Wallets

According to a new post on the forum Bitcointalk, the now defunct BTC-e exchange says it has control over some its servers and bitcoin wallets. At the moment, operators of the trading platform detail they are evaluating the balances.

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BTC-e Reveals They Are Assessing Wallets and Balances

Over the past few weeks, news.Bitcoin.com has reported on the BTC-e exchange and how it was seized by U.S. law enforcement. We further detailed how the operators of the exchange released a public message, describing the FBI takedown and the possibility of customers getting their money back. According to the message, some of the “purses” were taken by the FBI so there could be a portion of funds that will be unavailable to BTC-e traders.

On August 3 the trading platform’s operators left a message in Russian stating;

We were able to access our databases and purses [wallets], we are currently assessing the data and bitcoin balance sheets, this information will be made public before the end of next week.

Other Members of BTC-e Partner Businesses Arrested

The U.S. Justice Department and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), have seized the trading platform’s domain and claim the exchange has broken money transmission laws. Further, the indictment of the alleged BTC-e administrator, Alexander Vinnik, includes a $110M penalty against the BTC-e exchange for money laundering and illegal money transmission.

BTC-e has also mentioned in its latest public message that employees from a particular company called, Mayzus Financial Services Ltd, have also been arrested for being tied to the “money flow.”

Traders who kept money on the exchange who were not involved with illegal activities are not pleased with the U.S. government’s intervention. The message from BTC-e is a hopeful sign that some traders may get their funds back. At the time of writing U.S. law enforcement has not yet revealed how much money was confiscated from the exchange. If BTC-e reveals how much they have left, and how much the FBI seized next week, traders should get a better idea of the true extent of losses.

What do you think about the latest statement from BTC-e? Do you think they will return the money to customers? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via Shutterstock, BTC-e, and Bitcointalk.org.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that enables near-instant, low-cost payments to anyone, anywhere in the world. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority: transaction management and money issuance are carried out collectively by the network. Read all about it at wiki.Bitcoin.com.