Key Highlights
- The CEO of Bitzlato wants to resume business despite being accused of money laundering.
- Once trading starts, according to Anton Shkurenko, the exchange will permit partial withdrawals.
Bitzlato, a Hong Kong-based crypto exchange that was accused of money laundering and had its servers confiscated in a global investigation, has indicated that it expects to resume operations and permit partial withdrawals.
In a Russian YouTube interview translated by Forklog, Anton Shkurenko, whose co-founder Anatoly Legkodymov was detained in the law enforcement operation alongside several other Bitzlato executives, claimed that police had seized the platform’s hot wallet, which contained 35% of user funds across all cryptos at the time.
Shkurenko, however, asserted that the exchange would reopen at an undisclosed time and that he could guarantee “100% assurance” that “we would allow 50% of customer assets in Bitcoin (BTC) held in the wallets of Bitzlato to be withdrawn on the same day we start.” Other coins will launch gradually.
The hitherto unknown exchange was accused of laundering more than $700 million in assets linked to Russian criminals in mid-January. Legkodymov, a Russian national and the principal owner of Bitzlato was detained in Miami after living in China.
According to the police force of the European Union, Europol, Bitzlato transferred more than $1 billion in assets related to illegal activity.
