A forum account tied to the cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e has issued a new statement, claiming to be in control of databases and bitcoin wallets days after the site's domain was seized by law enforcement agencies.
As CoinDesk reported, BTC-e – one of the longest-running and most secretive of the world's bitcoin exchanges – was targeted in a broad international police effort last week.
Authorities in Greece moved to arrest Alexander Vinnik, who was accused of operating BTC-e and laundering billions of dollars with bitcoin over a multi-year period. U.S. prosecutors later unveiled a 21-count indictment that included a $110 million civil fine levied against BTC-e itself.
However, just days later, BTC-e's account on the Bitcoin Talk forum came to life. In that initial message, the exchange promised to return funds to users, though no clear deadline was offered at the time. It further denied that Vinnik was the mastermind behind the exchange or even an "employee of our service".
In the latest message, BTC-e said (statement translated from Russian):