Authorities recently accused Binance of being involved in a money laundering affair with Bitzlato, a darknet exchange. The crypto exchange then took measures that did not please investors. Find out what happened.
Binance reassures customers by unblocking accounts
Binance took a step it deemed useful in connection with the Bitzlato case. The crypto exchange has blocked several accounts linked to this publicly unknown exchange on the platform. The community learned the news on January 18, when Russian-speaking customers expressed complaints. These customers had said in a group chat on Telegram that they were unable to withdraw their funds from the exchange. They blamed Binance for having blocked their accounts without first notifying them.
The Telegram group had over 1,000 members. After the complaint from Russian-speaking customers, many of them established a link with the Bitzlato affair. They understood that the exchange made this decision in relation to the actions of the US Department of Justice against Bitzlato. Shortly after, Binance acknowledged that the deletion of the accounts was indeed related to the Bitzlato case.
A Binance spokesperson said : “Last week, our Compliance and Investigations team, in connection with the Bitzlato case, suspended the accounts of certain users in several countries, including Eastern Europe and the CIS“. But then he explained that the vast majority of blocked accounts had already been unblocked.
“At present, more than 90% of accounts have been unlocked, users have been informed. All funds are safe. Affected users, less than 20, have been provided with relevant contact details from law enforcement”, argued the Binance spokesperson. The crypto exchange also urged users to read its account deletion article.
In this article, the crypto exchange platform presents the different reasons that can justify the suspension of an account. It also indicates what users can do when they find that their account has been blocked.
Many members of the Telegram group have admitted to using Bitzlato to transact with their Binance accounts. For some users, the action against Bitzlato is causing outrage and confusion. One of the band members said:Although I haven’t been banned anywhere yet, I just lost a bit on BTC-e, Wex, and now it’s Bitzlato. But I consider these prohibitions as anarchy“.
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