Another fine example of why I wish this crypto-craze BS would just go away!
 
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/turkish-crypto-exchange-goes-bankrupt-losses-2-billion-usd
 

The founder of a popular crypto exchange in Turkey has disappeared, with media reports indicating that he has fled the country with $2 billion as roughly 300,000 frustrated users have suddenly lost access to their accounts.

In Turkey, the national currency lira has been in a secular decline for nine consecutive years, urging people to take some risks in a bid to protect their savings and maybe even earn something. As a result, the recent rise of cryptocurrencies predictably attracted many investors who hoped to protect their money and possibly gain some more. But things did not go well for them as Thodex, one of the country's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, went bust.

Governments cannot control cryptocurrencies. As a result, they can quickly rise to an all-time high (or rapidly drop), making them a particularly attractive investment instrument — especially for those willing to take a risk. In Turkey, anyone can establish a crypto exchange with just 50,000 liras (about $6,000 USD) in capital, reports Bloomberg. Consequently, crypto exchanges are often run by people without proper financial education that serve unqualified investors who do not understand all of the risks.

Thodex was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Turkey with 700,000 users, many lured in by an introductory offer of 'millions' of free Dogecoins. Apparently, most of those Dogecoins were never distributed.

To make matters worse, media reports say that as many as 391,000 users have now suddenly lost access to their accounts. Following the reports, Thodex "temporarily" closed the platform to address an "abnormal fluctuation in the company accounts."

Meanwhile, Faruk Fatih Ozer, the founder of Thodex, has flown to Albania, taking $2 billion of investors' money with him, reports CNBC (citing local Turkish media). As you would expect, the Turkish Justice Ministry is seeking a so-called "red notice" with Interpol to arrest Ozer.

Thodex denies all the allegations and says that the problem impacts 'only' 30,000 of its clients. The company further states that the inaccurate media reporting has ruined its reputation, making it impossible to continue operations.

"The allegations that [accounts of] 391,000 people disappeared after a loss of approximately $2 billion, which was [reported] to the public on 22.04.2021, are unfounded," a statement by Thodex reads. "It is necessary to make this statement in order to respond urgently to these claims that go beyond the limits of honesty and conscience."

The founder of Thodex vows to return investors' money but hasn't revealed how and when he plans to do it. Meanwhile, a lawyer representing the investors said the money had become "irretrievable," according to Bloomberg

No one should have their currency sitting in an exchange.  This is when it is stolen.  It should be in the exchange for an hour or two max (enough time for the slowest currencies to verify an exchange transaction and transfer back out).  Cryptocurrency is incredibly hard to steal, but when it is in an exchange (where there are many potential employees who have access to the key pairs), all bets are off.

 
No FDIC insurance on that.
 
If some of the victims are miners; oh dear, how sad, never mind...
 

Not like this is the first time Millions upon Billions have disappeared from all the shady people involved in this "business" ....

aka_STEVE_b
Not like this is the first time Millions upon Billions have disappeared from all the shady people involved in this "business" ....

Unfortunately, a currency that is untraceable is a beacon for nefarious actors.  This coupled with the resources to “take“ these “funds” either through fraud, hack or slight of hand, it seems that the value only helps this guys based on the unregulated nature of this untraceable thing.  Not sure you call this a currency as Billions have been stolen and “redistributed.”

Grey_Beard
 
Unfortunately, a currency that is untraceable is a beacon for nefarious actors.

Untraceable?  What are you talking about?  Might want to research that....
 
There are very few cryptocurrencies which are untraceable, they aren't very popular, and they aren't valued very highly.  The popular ones you are thinking about, and have value to steal, are traceable.
 
But since he owned the exchange, he can more easily cover his tracks; and most likely "took the money" in fiat currency via a bank wire transfer to some scumbag bank in a country with poor regulations.
 
In general, cryptocurrency is very traceable.  It's only the bank transfer process from the exchange to your bank which determines whether or not the traceability stops or continues.  Over here, we have KYC and AML laws which prevent people from transferring money to their bank account as an untraceable transaction.
 
If you are going to point the finger at some institution as the problem, it is the scumbag banks in countries with poor regulations.  There is not much you can buy with cryptocurrency at the moment, you can't eat it either, and most of them are traceable.  Converting it to fiat currency and laundering it is his goal, without a doubt.

Grey_Beard
If it was “traceable” then why has none of the thefts of various coins been caught?

Because they are stolen from exchanges as an inside job and then laundered using scumbag banks in unregulated countries.  Didn't I already answer that question?
 
Feel free to do some research.

It will be interesting to see what can be done since the question will also be the laws that are broken. In some countries they have no way to charge a crime for digital thief. It also creates a recognition of the value of digital currency. It would be different if it wasn’t a crypto currency since real recognized money has recognized value but for non recognized currency the value of the thief is nothing.

ty_ger07

Grey_Beard
If it was “traceable” then why has none of the thefts of various coins been caught?

Because they are stolen from exchanges as an inside job and then laundered using scumbag banks in unregulated countries.  Didn't I already answer that question?
 
Feel free to do some research.

So let me get this straight. It’s traceable but people can cover their tracks. Seems that it untraceable to me. It is either traceable or it’s not. Very simple concept. It does not fit into that then it’s not the right answer. 2+2 does equal 4.

Grey_Beard
So let me get this straight. It’s traceable but people can cover their tracks. Seems that it untraceable to me. It is either traceable or it’s not. Very simple concept. It does not fit into that then it’s not the right answer. 2+2 does equal 4.

I am not sure what you are not comprehending.
 
Most cryptocurrencies are traceable.  When I say traceable, I mean that every transaction is traceable, but the identity of the person may not be known or provable.  Just because you can trace every single step, doesn't mean that you can prove the identity of the person.  KYC and AML regulations determine that.  Since it is HIS exchange, if HE didn't follow KYC and AML regulations, the information available to investigators to prove that HE is the thief who made transactions on HIS exchange may be limited.  And then, when he sells it on HIS exchange and wire transfers it to bank accounts, depending on the banks he used to transfer money, the level of information the banks are willing or required to provide to investigators may be limited, and PROVING that HE took the money may be difficult.
 
He is essentially saying that he didn't take the money and 'prove it!'.  Since it is HIS exchange, even if his exchange did follow KYC and AML regulations, he could have manipulated or destroyed records related to himself.
 
It's just standard money laundering stuff.  Cryptocurrency doesn't change that game.  Regulations change that game.  Regardless of whether it is a cryptocurrency or a bank account, it's just numbers in an anonymous account until an identity is provided.  There are some banks in some countries whose whole business model is to protect criminals, because they operate in a country with little regulation, and the criminals will gladly pay the banks' big fees in order to receive their protection of anonymity.
 
Proving that money moved around is not a problem.  It is traceable.  Proving WHO moved the money is the problem.  That is controlled by regulation.  Regulation is not so good in some places.
 
Most cyprtocurrencies are way more traceable than a dollar.  For those cryptocurrencies, every transaction is like a bank to bank transaction where everything is logged; unlike a dollar which can lose traceability when it is spent in a vending machine, convenience store, or wherever.
 
Don't get me wrong, inside jobs are crimes.  Assuming that he did do this crime, I am not arguing that he is not a criminal.  All I am saying is that it may be difficult to prove.  When the fox is running the hen-house, these things happen.  This is why nobody should leave their cryptocurrency in an exchange for any unnecessary period of time.
 
When a robber steals money, do you blame the money or the robber?

When you are able to write the rules of the game and people buy into it. Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

well well well...
i just feel bad for the simpler folks who went along this Virtual coin fraud
 
as for the miners...   i dont care about them.  let their pockets burn deep
 
 

The guy probably remembered the last, most important part of any successful get-rich-quick scheme: get away with the money without them being able to follow you.

Great more reason to hate Crypto. I bet he is thinking to him self wow what idiots to think this is a good idea.

As long as people actively feed into crypto, this will keep happening. Its a literal problem with crypto's premise.