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In Turkey, another platform on which crypto coins are traded has suspended its activities – the second in a week.
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That happened after police arrested the platform’s CEO, local media reported. Vebitcoin announced on Friday that it would suspend its activities due to financial problems. The platform said it would comply with all rules and accommodate claims.
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A few hours later, the financial inspection blocked the company’s accounts in Turkey, the private news agency Demiroren reported. Police picked up Vebitcoin CEO Ilker Bas in his apartment in the town of Mugla. Three employees of the platform were also arrested.
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Vebitcoin reached a daily trading volume of nearly $ 60 million, according to CoinGecko.com, which tracks crypto market data. More than half of this volume came from bitcoin, which fell 19 percent this week.
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Earlier, the Turkish authorities had already arrested 62 suspects in an investigation into another Turkish crypto platform, Thodex. The nearly 400,000 users fear not seeing their investment back after the CEO fled the country and the platform suspended operations.
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Central bank
The problems with the platforms come a week after the Turkish central bank decided to ban payments with crypto coins from April 30. The transaction risks would be too great, it said. Turkey prohibits payment institutions from transferring money to cryptocurrency platforms. The head of the Turkish central bank, Sahap Kavcioglu, said on television on Friday that more measures are on the way. “There are troubling flows of money leaving Turkey via crypto coins,” said Kavcioglu.
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Quite a few Turks invested their money in crypto coins to avoid, among other things, the gigantic inflation of 16.2 percent as a result of the weak and unstable lira.
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Cryptocrash
Last week, the worst period for bitcoin since the digital currency fell in late February in a broader wave of risky asset sales. Analysts warn of further losses. Even digital coins that initially resisted, such as Ether and Dogecoin, had to drop sharply on Friday.
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The decline in digital currencies may have been due to the message that President Joe Biden wants to introduce a higher capital gains tax. The news about the problems with the Turkish Thodex also depressed sentiment.
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