By Nathan Ferguson
A prominent crypto exchange company Bitzlato occupied a lot of attention in news headlines recently as its co-founder has been released by Interpol. The international police have released Anton Shkurenko after keeping him in custody for a brief period. The Bitzlato co-founder was arrested by the local authorities for questioning dealing with the financial dealings as well as the business practices of the firm.
Interpol Frees the Co-Founder of Bitzlato Following a Short Custody
The reports published by the media disclosed what was supposedly witnessed by the Bitzlato co-founder. As per the reports, Anton Shkurenko mentioned that he was detained by a police officer for the confirmation of his identity. Nonetheless, his release took place following a rapid questioning by the Interpol official. No precise information was provided by him about the law enforcement unit that detained him, the reports say.
However, he disclosed that an agreement was inked by him to appear upon being summoned by the investigators if required. He additionally revealed that a no-detention warrant has been given to him that shields him from arrests in the future. Sources point out that Shkurenko’s arrest took place via a thorough inquiry into the crypto market. According to them, the Bitzlato platform has been engaged in illegitimate operations like fraud and money laundering.
After the release of Bitzlato’s co-founder, the crypto entity issued a statement stressing the commitment related to legality and transparency in its activities. The firm stated that its platform completely complies with the authorities. The company believes that the inquiry will not pose any negative effect on its business.
The detention as well as the questioning of such a high-profile person in the world of crypto assets has ignited debates and discussions among the commentators and market experts. Some of them are of the view that this is considered to be a positive development that will in turn provide benefit to the industry. Regulatory bodies are taking stringent measures to deal with the crypto sector.
Such an aggressive approach is taken to guarantee that the crypto space operates in line with the law specified for it. On the other hand, some others argue that the respective move could affect the development and growth of the entire crypto industry negatively by posing significant hindrances.
However, regardless of the above-mentioned viewpoints, the incidents witnessed in recent days have reminded the industry that the crypto market is going through strict observation. While the industry is continuously witnessing broad-level growth as well as mainstream adoption, Bitzlato and other such firms will require maintaining transparency to a great extent. This is needed to gain as well as sustain trust among the common masses.
FinCEN and DOJ Accuse Bitzlato Founder of Transmitting Unregistered Fund
Bitzlato, the crypto exchange that is licensed in Hong Kong, has been operating since 2016. Nonetheless, in this year’s January, its activities stopped after the arrest of its founder named Anatoly Legkodymov. In this respect, the FinCEN and the Department of Justice collaborated. The agencies leveled allegations against him for dealing with the transmission of unregistered funds.
Simultaneously, 4 other people linked to the crypto entity were also detained by Europol. As reported by the law enforcement organization, these people had supposedly laundered money. Shkurenko specified that the 4 persons took away digital assets of up to 18M Euros worth from thirty-five percent proportion of the platform’s consumers.