Earlier, the Thodex exchange went dark. Its CEO has allegedly skipped the country with $2 billion.

The Turkish authorities are grappling with thousands of investor complaints after two of the country’s crypto exchanges, Thodex and Vebitcoin, suspended their operations within the space of about a week. Both exchanges are being investigated for fraud and authorities have already arrested numerous persons in this connection.

The exchanges appear to have folded within a week after the Turkish central bank banned the use of cryptocurrencies for payments. (Bitcoin.com)

Vebitcoin

On Friday, Vebitcoin, the second exchange, said on its website: “Due to the recent developments in the crypto money industry, there was a much higher density in our operations than expected. We would like to state with regret that this situation has led us to a very difficult process in the financial field. We decided to cease our activities in order to fulfill all regulations and claims.”

The Turkish Financial Crimes Investigation Board is said to have frozen the onshore bank accounts of Vebitcoin.

Further, according to reports, four personnel from the exchange have been detained following the fraud investigation. One of these may be its CEO, Ilker Bas.

Disturbing crypto flows

Meanwhile, speaking on a television interview, Şahap Kavcıoğlu, the recently appointed governor of the Turkish central bank, confirmed that there was no proposal yet of a total crypto ban because the government cannot fix its problems (“no infrastructure, regulation, and control mechanism”) by “just banning it.”

A particularly vexed issue (“disturbing”) appears to be the flight of funds to Europe and the U.S. via “very serious crypto traffic.”

“We don’t know for sure where these cryptocurrencies are going,” Kavcıoğlu said.

However, it appears that sweeping crypto regulations may be announced by Turkey by May, according to CryptoNews.

Related Story:  Chief Of Turkish Crypto Exchange Thodex On The Lam, Allegedly With $2B