The below new byte confirms the reasons why BTC-E is down for over a day. And the reason being the arrest of its Alleged Admin 38-year-old Russian Alexander Vinnik. It is alleged by US Authorities that he was the master mind behind multi-billion dollar Money Laundering operations which was possibly through BTC-e. Also the Bitcoin hack trail from the Mt-Gox hack seems to be traced to him and it is alleged that 306,853 bitcoins stolen after the attack on Mt.
Gox entered the BTC-e purses. Which is a big news as this will finally solve the mystery behind one of the worst hacks in Bitcoin history. It seems FBI have been tracking him for over last few months and once he got surfaced in Greece for his holiday, he was arrested by Greek authorities authorities.
Now his extradition proceedings are underway and he can be max upto 2 months under arrest under current Greek laws until his extradition proceedings are finalized. While this arrest may help bring closure to the billions worth of Bitcoins stolen in Mt-Gox hack but puts the investment of many genuine investors in BTC-e exchange under grave doubt and loss. And it is possible the current dumping of huge amount of bitcoins may be a fallout of this event.
