Bitzlato is preparing for the resumption of the company after the official closure

Bitzlato is preparing for the resumption of the company after the official closure

Two weeks ago, a little-known crypto exchange called Bitzlato was closed in a raid coordinated by Europe and American authorities.

Now the company founder assumes that the company will be resumed soon.

a coordinated effort

The sinking operation was carried out in the two countries mentioned above and in Portugal, Spain and Cyprus, where the company administrator of the company was arrested (and then released).

According to Europol, 46 % of all transactions to Bitzlato had connections to criminal activities, with over 1.5 million BTC between the stock exchange and the now no longer existing Dark web platform Hydramarket.

"The analysis showed that about 46 % of the assets exchanged via Bitzlato were related to around 1 billion euros with criminal activities. (...) Investigations showed that 1.5 million BTC transactions were made directly between Bitzlato users and the hydram market switched off in April 2022."

The management team of the platforms was faced with money laundering allegations that accused them of having washed around $ 700 million for OFAC-centered authorities.

Bitzlato denied the allegations, and the founder of the platform, which was previously imprisoned in Miami, was released and explained his intention to bring the platform back online.

rushed operation

According to Anatoly Legkodymov, the founder of the platform, the raid was carried out in a hurry because the platform intended to switch to the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. Since the founder is traveling around two weeks after the raid, it is likely that the operation was carried out without sufficient evidence to condemn the management of the platform.

In an interview with Legkodymov, he stated that a hot wallet, which contained around 35 % of the funds of the users, was actually confiscated by the authorities - most likely in France, where there was a large part of the Bitzlato servers. According to Legkodymov, however, the Hot Wallet was coded so that it is useless for the authorities, and the funds contained therein are allegedly returned to Bitzlato shortly.

Legkodymov did not confirm the exact date on which the platform will be online again, but only promised that this would soon be the case. He also explained that 50 % of the users' funds in Bitcoin will be available for payment on the day on which the platform is back into operation. Withdrawals for other cryptocurrencies would be resumed shortly afterwards.

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